Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep:Destiny's Recall
by Eternal Symphonia
Summary: This is the untold story of the three who started it all.Terra,Aqua,and Ven are apprentices under an unamed and unseen master who has sent them to find Master Xehanort and his own student. Truly, not all secrets can be buried within the ravages of time.
1. 1:1:1 A Hero of Hillbilly Proportions

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep~Destiny's Recall~Book 1(Ven's Story, Part 1), Chapter 1~A Hero of Hillbilly Proportions~

NOTE, PLEASE READ!!!: As you can see, this is definitely NOT Birth by Sleep Zero at all. This is another Birth by Sleep theory story based on what I NOW think will happen in Birth by Sleep, since a lot of new information has been released. Like, for example, WHICH MAKES ME REALLY MAD, the Unbirths are actually now going to be called the UNVERSED in the English version of Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep. From what I've collected, it seems to mean Un-Versed, in the old fashion meaning of "versed", which means "knowledgeable". So technically their name means the "un-knowledgeable". Of what, I do not know. Also, a few new worlds have been released, which were not included in my original plans for the story. So, I am beginning anew, but I will also continue BBS Zero at the same time for those who really enjoy reading about porcupine and Geezernort. But don't worry, I will surely add humor to this one. Any story of mine without any comedy at all is not what I aim for. Also, Nomura has given us a subtle description of Aqua's behavior and personality, which was almost somewhat different from the one I originally gave her in BBS Zero. My main goal is to create the most ACCURATE story close enough to the real game, and guessing from the newest information, my first one is FAR OFF. Thank you my loyal readers, that is all. Please enjoy the first chapter of Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep~Destiny's Recall Book 1! I hope to see a few reviews. Just to let you know, this time I'm starting off with Ventus.

Toodles,

Eternal Symphonia

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything in the script except for my own characters. The rest belongs to mister change-his-mind-all-of-the-time Nomura and Disney.

There he was again, glaring at me in deep concentration with those sulphuric yellow eyes. No. Amber. His irregular irises were slightly more orange than gold; the color of rich, thick, honeylike amber, seemingly oozing with interest like that of which sap oozes from the trunk of a heady pine.

These past few weeks have been quite strange, and not just because my best friend Dirk was excited about today, the very last day of school before summer vacation. In fact, he was probably only the second weirdest thing that existed during that whole period of time, beaten only by that creepy stalker of mine. Yeah, you heard me: my creepy stalker. You know, the one whose eyes look like dog pee? The one I just mentioned? Yeah, him. He had watched us every time we were outside and not in school or the candy shop, or some other kind of building. Though, I did catch him sneaking around my backyard last night while I was trying to fall asleep, which wasn't very easy in the first place since it was the night before the last day of school. It didn't help that he decided to climb up the linden tree by my window also and beam at me like one of those emotionless robots in all of the movies. Things like that bothered the hell out of me, like when someone stares at me for no reason. Well at least any reason that _I_ could think of.

Back to Dirk Yorume, he had been extremely hyper recently, so ecstatic that he had called me about three nights ago at one in the morning to invite me to come and play video games. Don't get me wrong, it _was _pretty fun staying up late kicking ass with Halo 3, but I have to admit it was downright stupid. At least I didn't have any parents to get mad at me for doing things like that. Not that I took advantage of it, but if I did, I assume it wouldn't have been pretty when I got home at four in the morning and my father and mother were standing right there by the door with their hands on their hips, ready to break out the punishments.

A blink. His eyelids flickered over his flaming irises as he glared vacantly from his position in the nearby trees. My eyes instantly darted over to him, devouring his appearance in apprehensive bites. From the depths of the shadows that encased his frail body, I could make out an almost formed maniacal grin carved into his face. It was as if he was making fun of me, laughing because he could feel the overwhelming waves of fear and alarm radiating off of my body. This caused me to cock my head to the side in contemplation of his creepiness.

A rustle erupted from the oak he stood in as I watched him do the exact same, another evil smirk forming.

He was actually mocking me.

"Did you hear m-hey, whatcha looking at?" Dirk's dirty blond hair and emerald eyes snatched my attention as he popped into view.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just thought I saw something in the trees." I lied through my gritted teeth. Even if I did tell Dirk the truth about what I saw, he would've just cackled in delight and put it off as it a weird joke I was trying to pull. I thought that it would be better to let him think I was dozing off into space. Dirk turned his head to the spot I had been fixated on. His shoulders went up and down like the waves of the ocean as he shrugged, "I don't think there's anything there."

See? I told you. Dirk never believed me when I said something. In fact, even though he's my best friend and does it all the time, I absolutely despise it. Absolutely _hate it to death_.

"But-yeah, you're right." I fibbed once again, definitely unwillingly. But I guess I didn't want to sound like a hallucinating freak. Even though I reassured myself that I was just seeing things again, something in my soul told me otherwise. I don't really know what that "something" was. My conscience maybe? I dunno. All I knew was that I was being watched like a hawk by that sinister, loco, odd-eyed creeper, which, judging by his wonderful posture was someone with back problems as bad as Quasimodo's or an old geezer. Probably both.

Dirk's chocolate and snow colored house loomed ahead on the quaint path over a little bit from Market Street. All of his other friends addressed it as the "Oreo" house, referring to the cocoa and cream flavored sandwich cookie.

"See ya tomorrow, Ven." Dirk farewelled in his usual, somewhat slurred, slangy tone as he made his way towards his home at a fast pace.

I yelled to him, "But I thought we were supposed to-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know I promised that we'd eat ice cream on the clock tower today, but Yamada begged me to come to the annual little Struggle tournament they have every year on the last day of school. And I didn't really want to bail out on him, so..."

I knew it. Dirk had abandoned me again to hang out with Yamada. I wasn't jealous or anything, but it was getting kind of annoying having him ignore me every single time we were supposed to hang out to go and bid to his other friend's wishes for that day. Of course, Dirk didn't want to bail out on Yamada, but he sure doesn't mind doing it to _me_.

_Fine, then. I'll eat ice cream by myself. Maybe that creepy guy will come along and kidnap me so you don't have to make any excuses anymore. _I sneered silently. I didn't even answer to Dirk's smirking little face before I stormed away with a trail of steam pouring out from the top of my head like one of those smokestacks, my messenger bag's top flap flitting around in the wind.

"You can come, if you want!" Dirk offered from his twenty foot distance.

I didn't answer him. I just kept walking into the trademark setting sun of Twilight Town as I headed for my own house to drop off my backpack.

My home was just a few streets away from Dirk's, so it only took me about ten minutes to make it there.

When I got to the part of the street in front of my house, I fidgeted around my book bag for my keys and headed up my khaki driveway at the same time. Instead of entering the code for my garage, I just headed up the cobblestone path off to the side that led to the front door and jammed my house key into the keyhole in anger. It took a few tries to get it right, as it always did, but I finally managed to unlock the door and enter my entryway.

The usual smell of dirty socks and cologne didn't seem to smell as bad that day as it usually did. Maybe because I had cleaned up a bit and did some laundry just twenty four hours before. I contemplated the possible reasons as I kicked my black with red straps over the top shoes into the corner next to the front door. Typical of my one-hundred year old house, the stairs matched all of the other eerie noises and creaked like a rocking chair on each step. I could even feel the wood under the cream carpet bending under my weight, which was pretty sad considering I only was about one hundred and ten pounds and had absolutely no muscles at all.

The first room that you walked into after making your way up the flight of stairs was my tan and orange themed living room. The space was pretty much just a square that had an onyx leather couch in the back with a matching TV near the windows on the opposite side of the room. Nestled underneath the ten-inch box was a PS2 and Wii console standing next to each other with their controllers set on the floor to the right. On the left were stacks of games and cases all in neat rows. That was the weird part about me: I never kept my room or anything else that neat except for my games.

Mounted to the far left of the television was a dark brown pine cabinet that held a lamp on its smooth top and a cordless phone. On the left wall of the living room was an oak and linden bookcase that held mostly a bunch of manga and comics. That was another thing that I kept in order, my comic books. Still don't know why, though. The walls of the TV room were a pale, orangish cream along with a white ceiling that had those spiky dots that rubbed off if you poked at them with your feet, which I did very often when I was bored. On the open side coming from the stairs, there was two cushy navy blue chairs, which didn't fit the rest of the room at all. But I didn't care; none of that stuff concerned me like it did most people. As long as I had a nice seat to plunk down in when I felt like it, I was a happy camper. On the back wall next to the couch was a doorway leading into my plain white bathroom, while opposite of the wall on the left was a hallway leading to some more stairs, which gave way to another bathroom and two bedrooms, one of them being my crimson and white colored room.

The most bizarre thing about my old house was that the kitchen was in the basement, which was led to by a minuscule spiral staircase coming from the entryway. Otherwise, that was it. That was my whole house. Not very big, I guess, but big enough for me.

When I was done tossing my backpack on the couch in my living room, I headed towards the bathroom near my bedroom and looked in the mirror. I was wearing my usual outfit which consisted of a sleeveless black undershirt-like vest and a silver zipper in the middle. The collar of that shirt overlapped the one of my second layer of clothing. Over the top was my signature creamy-white short jacket that had checkered print emblazoned on my chest in a horizontal line and more checkered print in two vertical lines on each side, stretching from the very bottom of my shoulders to the depths of my underarms. Two giant pockets hung off of either side of my stomach, holding lint and no munny. My pants were probably the most simple part of my daily uniform. On the top it was a light black with two pockets that matched the ones on my light jacket. Below, they cut off and connected to the faint gray bottoms of my jeans. As I said before, my shoes were charcoal and ash with silver ribbing on the lower part of the edges and the undersides. Blood colored straps criss-crossed over the top of my feet. Most of the people I knew gawked at my outfit almost every single day, but I didn't really take much notice. All I knew was that I was okay and comfortable with it, so I shouldn't care about what others thought of it. This thought rang throughout my suddenly aching head as I made my way into my room to grab some munny for the ice cream I was going to enjoy alone. _Without _Dirk and his cheesy and dumb _new_ best friend.

My screen door creaked not unlike my stairs when I headed out into the open sunlight with the main intention to grab a popsicle and sit on the clock tower for maybe half an hour, then walk around doing nothing and avoiding the sandlot: I assumed that was where Dirk and Yamada were.

Repulsion shot through my heart when I saw some kids from my school on some of their bikes, enjoying the last day of school. And of course, it was the very ones who decided that I was a great geek to pick on. Even before they noticed I was there I knew that my day was going to turn out even worse than I had thought previously.

As expected, the group leader was a popular guy named Drennin who thought his crap didn't stink. All of the other girls at school just fell to the ground in his _"beautiful" _presence and oohed for longer than they should've. I don't know why, though. His face was like a monkey butt's and the back end of a dirty trailer combined, and don't even get me started on the raunchy breath he owned. His twisted brown eyes squinted with anticipation at the sight of me all alone and helpless. He motioned to his gang of retards, mumbling a few words to them. Probably something to the extent of, "Durrrrr! Let's go have some fun beating the crap out of that little blondie kid with that geeky name, Ventus." I could just imagine all of his "followers" agreeing and saying, "Oh sure! Let's go ruin his day even more. That's sounds fun, durrrrr! Hardy har har, it's so fun picking on Ventus Toshi, huh?"

The look on Drennin's ugly face forced adrenaline to pump through my veins, giving me the courage to actually think about fighting back this time. Not just letting him wail on me and give me a black eye to remember him by. All of that bravery dissipated when the muscular teen leaped off of his bike and let it skid to the graffiti covered wall nearby. His lackeys all followed and circled me, pinning me in a small space up against another wall that was part of a random girl's clothing store. A few clique chicks inside saw what was happening and came out to cheer him on.

"How's it going, Toshi?" Drennin asked slyly in his deep, dying cow voice while cracking his knuckles, obviously in high hopes of a wonderful fight. His short cut greasy brunette hair was blown to the side as a great gust of wind blew through the alley we were in, bringing the common scents of summer air and a perfume of food. Crusty and crooked teeth glinted inside of his mouth as the sun's rays peeked out of an overpassing cloud, casting off a brownish yellow glow due to his lack of brushing.

I sputtered out a dopey sounding, "Uh..."

"I didn't actually mean that I cared, you retard. Ha, ha, ha! What a stupid little buttface! Right guys?" He turned to his cronies and cackled. They all followed suit.

I'm_ the buttface? Sheesh, has he even looked in the mirror lately? Wait, he couldn't of, he already cracked it. _I didn't dare say it loud, but I still couldn't help splitting a grin at my own joke. Drennin noticed this and snorted, "Whatcha laughin' at?"

Another surge of boldness crackled from my fingertips like lightning as I muttered quietly, "Your face."

Drennin just stood there in utter awe and chagrin as my words sunk in. A wave of gasps erupted from the crowd of kids behind him, unbelieving that anyone had been able to stand up to him. He probably couldn't reply because no one had ever told him that before to avoid getting their teeth turned worse than his. But I was so sick of being bullied that I didn't care whether or not if he didn't agree with me; I had gotten enough grief from him in the past.

"Y-you wanna say that...again, little runt?"

This time I didn't hold back and repeated loudly enough for him to hear through his thick ego, "Your face."

All I saw for the next few moments was a scene unfolding in fuzzy, but still legible pictures. Him slamming me against the wall along with some of his friend and myself struggling constantly. His fist raising and shooting towards my face. Uncomfortable washes of pain blowing through my head, all coming from my nose where he had landed a blow. A triumphant smirk forming on his face along with the cheering of the watchers behind him. A bunch of other kids coming up and pinning me down and kicking me. Drennin getting ready to smash his fist into my forehead again. Another ongoing salute from the crowd. Myself bracing for another hit. A hand flying in front of the boy's and stopping him dead in his tracks.

Wait...What?

"Leave him alone." A deep command echoed throughout the whole alley and caused an empty silence to form. I watched this man's fingers curl around the bully's fist and tighten. Drennin started to shake uncontrollably as he stared onwards at my defender.

Blood seeped into my mouth and caused the slight taste of iron to tickle at my throat. He had got me right in the middle of my nose. The ache from the burning caused my recently small headache to rise into something worse.

Drennin spoke haltingly with apparent audacity, "What the hell are you doing? This isn't any of your business!"

His tone still eerily calm, my guardian spoke back with a slight tinge of anger, "I said, leave him alone."

"You can't stop me, so get out of the way! Come on, you guys, let's get him!" Drennin waved over at the intervener and sent all of the crowd after him. They all monstrously shoved him into the wall and started to beat the crap out of his entire being. But surprisingly, he didn't fight back, didn't even wince from the onslaught of attacks. I stared at the guy in astonishment. He seemed to be almost six feet tall, maybe even a little more, and had huge muscles all over his chest and arms. I mean, you know, maybe not _huge_ muscles, but enough to put up a better fight than he was now. His hair was really dark brown and was spiky enough to stab someone's eye out. Well, I guess my blond hair could've, too. But his was at least as bad as mine. I couldn't really see what he was wearing since he was covered head to toe with people and crazy teens except for a few tinges of black and red.

My defender finally began to let the pain get to him as he wailed to the heavens in agony. Drennin also screamed, but not for the same reason. Instead, it was because of his sense of victory over the one who was much taller and bigger than him.

Even from my distance I could see the determination in my "friend's" cobalt blue eyes. Pure, hard, relentless, perseverance seeping out through his irises coming from the depths of his heart. He was an utterly strong person, not just physically, but also spiritually .

"What's the matter? Can't fight back? What a stupid weakling!"

Through the gritted teeth of the strange man I could hear the words, "I'm not the weakling here."

"Excuse me?" Everyone paused their beatings to hear the conversation between the two. "Did you just call me a _weakling_?"

The teenage boy with a black eye and many bruises said nothing and smirked a deformed grin due to the many abrasions on his face. This seemed to scare Drennin, causing him to give an order to his flunkeys, "Come on. This guy's no fun anymore; we can finish him off later." And with that the whole group flitted away in fear of the sturdy opposer, half on bikes and half on foot.

Abused and weakened, the brunette fell to the ground from the wall and watched as a few droplets of crimson fell from his nose and mouth. His pink tongue was swept back and forth a few times to clear it all away. I was still sitting on the street in shock when he got up and gently patted his hand on my shoulder, accidentally irritating one of my bruises. When I flinched he instantly flung his hand away and

"Are you okay?" He asked in concern, completely ignoring his own wounds and staring at mine in alarm.

"Am _I _okay? Dude, I only got slugged once. I'm the one who should be asking if _you're _okay."

His laugh catapulted into the sky and upwards as he cackled in agreement, "Well, I guess I am. I mean, I'm still breathing, aren't I?" My hair genuinely flicked back into place when I rubbed it in embarrassment, "I think so."

"Well, anyway, I've got to get going. Make sure not to get in another fight with that boy again. I just might not be around."

Now that I took the time to actually look at him I could tell that he must not have been from around here. His clothes were even weirder than mine; the pants he donned were beige and had many folds around them. At the very top part it was covered by a thick band of gray fabric with a black ribbon interlacing between some loops. This strip of black came out in the front and was tied a few times around a strange, golden, heart-like symbol, leading to the extra amount of ribbon on each side. As his pants crawled down his legs, they eventually gave more space between the material and his ankles. Technically, they looked kind of like bell bottoms. No, those pants the Samurai used to wear in ancient Japan. What were they called? Hakama, that was it. They were samurai hakama.

On top of his apparel was a plain ebony stretch shirt that showcased his chest muscles and formed short sleeves on either side. Straps the color of a cardinal in the middle of Winter criss-crossed his chest and back, forming an "X" on both. They seemed to come up from underneath the gray part of his pants. I guessed that it was the only thing holding them up, kind of like suspenders. On his right arm was an onyx armband that reminded me of my own checkered one. Strange armor that was colored gold, red, and black shackled his left and led to a fingerless, elastic obsidian glove. Probably the most unnoticeable part of this oddball clothing was his shoes: simply black with tawny yellow metal straps crossing over the top and bottoms.

If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that this dude was the exact definition of a hillbilly, knight, and a samurai warrior mixed together

_Talk about different time periods..._

As he paced away in a slow, steady limp I mentally noted everything about his outfit so that if I saw him again I could thank him, since I had forgotten to in my daze. That kind of made me feel bad; he had the snot beaten out of himself for me and I didn't even mumble a "thanks for saving me" in return. Oh well. As I said before, I could just say it if we crossed paths ever again. When I glanced back up at the last spot I had seen him, he was entirely gone.

_That was weird..._I concluded with mystery clouding my head. How could he have gotten away so fast? He couldn't of ran nor flew from this area. First of all, he was limping the last time I looked at him, and second of all, normal people can't fly.

A flashback of the recent fight flared in my mind's eye, sending chills through my being:

_Drennin waved over at the intervener and sent all of the crowd after him. They all monstrously shoved him into the wall and started to beat the crap out of his entire being. But surprisingly, he didn't fight back, didn't even wince from the onslaught of attacks. Even from my distance I could see the determination in my "friend's" cobalt blue eyes. Pure, hard, relentless, perseverance seeping out through his irises coming from the depths of his heart. He was an utterly strong person, not just physically, but also spiritually. _

_That guy...he was so powerful. He didn't even flinch when at least twenty people who were bound and determined to pulverize him all banded together and willingly assaulted without mercy. _That thought stayed with me as I got myself back together, rubbing the few bruises I gained from my previous predicament. I counted them all...maybe about fifteen considerably sized ones and fewer that didn't give all that much discolor to my skin. As I made my way back home I pondered even more about the brunette hero that had saved me from Drennin's little clan of assholes. What had made the decision for him to help me out?

Maybe he really _was _a hero. Someone who protected the innocent without second thought nor haste. Someone who was courageous and performed brave deeds or acts that benefited mankind and the universe. Someone who fought the Darkness with the powers of Light. Someone who I wish I could be. Someone that is everything that I'm n-

The truth was that I dearly hoped to be a _true _warrior of good, not just some little spiky-haired, full of spunk kid who acted like nothing could defeat him. That boy who had shielded me was what I had always wanted to be: one who protects the weak without needing to be begged. But, as I thought about it further, I realized that that dream would never come true. I would always be the same old Ventus Toshi who had to cower behind another just to make sure that I would see tomorrow. Truthfully, I wanted it to be a fact that _I _was making the sacrifices and being admired by others for who I was. That was what I truly wanted to be...a hero.

Now, you may say, "Why don't you actually _try _to be a good-doer instead of pretending that you have?". Well, I've got news for you: I _have_ tried to be a protagonist that everyone holds in high regard. At the very least I've aimed at being a great friend to someone. But that didn't work out since Dirk wasn't letting me do so. That's another thing I needed: _real_ best buds who didn't betray me and discard me because someone whose name starts with a "Y" told him to.

I think I've been reading _way _too many comics. I was letting this guy's kind actions get to my head. He probably wasn't a hero or anything of that sort. Probably just a passerby who descended upon the scene because he thought it his duty to stop me from being torn apart into pieces by a bunch of harassing tards, nothing more than that. But something kept me from completely believing my excuse: How _did _he get away that fast?

As I tried to manage to come up with some explanation that would fling that guy's description into the category of 'normal', my view of the outside world fizzled away. For once, I just kept walking off to an unknown destination and let the whole entire day's events flash inside my head like a commercial on TV without thinking about anything. This reminded me of Dirk, who had previously gotten rid of me to hang out with annoying Yamada.

I thought to myself bitterly, _Stupid Dirk. Some friend _you_ are..._

Speaking of him, I first noticed the golden haired teen when I saw him and his new best friend heading for the nearby candy shop. During my empty-headed, brisk paced walk, I must've let my feet guide me to Tram Common, for the area I was in was so recognized by me that I could have told you the amount of rusty colored bricks that lined the streets within a second. Baron von Dirk of Ditchville was pulling out his trademark cream pouch of munny and giggling about something to the boy next to him. From my position I could recognize his hard, spiked back, chock full of styling gel charcoal hair and unique cerulean highlights that edged the bottom of every single strand. The everyday clothing of Yamada consisted of pure black skinny jeans and a short sleeved, moon colored t-shirt that had no design on the front whatsoever. His matching tennis shoes and crescent moon necklace seemed to complete this somewhat gothic and dark appearance. But he didn't act depressed or anything like that. In fact, he was probably the exact opposite of an emo kid. Every single time we talked to each other, he would always happily announce in a snide, sarcastic tone, "Oh, today's another wonderful day! Hey, Toshi, haven't gotten a girl yet? Doesn't surprise me either. No female with taste would go for a weird kid like you. But don't worry, I can always help ya out with the chicks if you need it. And trust me, you _do_."

Any time he said anything to me I felt like shooting back and lashing out. Or maybe just saying something like, "No female with a quarter of a brain would go for you, either."

But of course I never did say it. All it would give me is even more Yamada grief.

"Hey, Dirk. Aren't you happy that we totally ditched that Ven kid today?" I heard the aforementioned guy mumble to Dirk continued with a chuckle.

"Hell, yeah! Don't know why we didn't do it earlier. It would've saved me from a lot of Toshi brand geekness."

I stood behind the corner of the street I was in in shock. I couldn't believe that he had just said that.

My bewilderment rose even higher when I heard Yamada's cheerful reply, "Yeah. No one wants to hang out with that loser. I'm surprised Drennin even cares about beating him up all of the time. You can't mess his face any uglier than it already is. No wonder why he doesn't have any memories from before he was fourteen: his parents probably knocked his head a bunch of times thinking it was doom itself and fled in fear of seeing it again."

At first I thought I heard a slight gasp of unexpected awe burst from Dirk's mouth as he recoiled at this direct insult. A slight glimmer of hope dawned inside my soul when I heard this. Did he think that that was going too far?

No, of course not. What I assumed to be a gasp turned into a rising jolt of laughter. Dirk then smiled and replied, tongue in cheek, "Seriously."

Anger and hatred started to fire up the flames in my stomach and turn my blood into molten fury. All this time I had been his loyal person and he turned around and stabbed me in the back. Usually I didn't let insults get to me since I had grown so used to them, but this time it was really, really bad. And the only time when it got _that_ bad was when someone made fun of my amnesia. All of these negative feelings seemed to possess me, forcing me to run straight up to the two without realizing that I was blowing my cover and destroying any chance of hearing more about what they "thought" of me. Once they recognized who was stomping up behind them, both of their dark blue and green eyes widened in amazement as they turned around.

"Oh, hey Ven. Didn't know you were around." Yamada sputtered, allowing me to kindle together an idea that had to do with him being afraid of me. Well, at least for this moment.

"Yeah, I didn't notice." I sarcastically remarked back at him. Dirk chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "How's it going?"

"You know how it's going."

They both flinched. Yamada then turned back to head towards the candy shop with Dirk's limp arm in hand and dragged him along for the ride.

"See ya tomorrow, Ven!" My ex-best friend waved as Yamada increased the amount of pressure of his death grip and continued on to the waiting elder lady that owned the shop.

My left foot immediately launched to take another step towards them, but I stopped myself almost right away. I decided that it was best to leave the two to themselves. If I didn't I would have probably shoved their ice cream and popsicle sticks down their throats with one lunge. But I bailed instead and headed towards the station without any sweets in hand.

The golden town of Twilight sparkled when I settled down on the ledge of the clocktower, my legs dangling like vines over the front. My ears were blasted out when the giant face behind me began to bellow out.

_Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring... _Each and every one contributed to add up to the number six, indicating that it was about dinner time for most of the town. Since I didn't have anyone to cook for me, I usually would grab a hot dog at one of the stands on Market Street or go without anything. But when it was Winter I had to fend for myself and cook up a frozen pizza or something. Truly, I did try to learn how to cook, but of course I never realized the difference between a pinch of salt and almost a full hand. That, and also I didn't consider that dry and liquid measuring cups weren't to be intermixed. Plus I burnt everything. Not a yummy treat, eating a crusty, hard, and blackened piece of crap I conjured up on the fly. My stomach grumbled, remembering all those nights where it went hungry because I was too lazy to go out and eat something or mess up another one of those simple and easy Ramen instructions. Maybe that's why I had absolutely no muscles at all: I never ate all that much. I would've if I could have, but I didn't.

Once in a while, Dirk's mother would invite me over to have supper with them, but that was only once in a complete blue moon. I tried to reconcile how many times I had been over at his house...three times during our whole two-year relationship? I dunno. I can't remember.

I summoned the memory of the very first day I met Dirk Yorume. It was an extremely cold afternoon near the end of December. Snow had laden its clutches upon the cobblestone streets and paths of Twilight Town and kept out the warm winds of Autumn. I think that day was the twenty-fourth, the exact day of Christmas Eve. During the whole winter break, all of the kids of the town were either out playing or just hanging around with their friends and enjoying the slightly pleasant breeze. Dirk was alone and had finished his lunch and was strolling around just to bask in the nice but crisp, cool air.

Everything was fine until he had noticed a group of people wading around one inconspicuous spot in the front of the train station. In his curiosity, he managed to shove a few of them around to get a front seat and take a gander at the view:

Me.

Dirk instantly spewed the question out of his mouth, "Is he dead?"

Another person nearby answered, "No. He's still breathing. But we don't know how he got here. He's been lying there for a day or two."

"Two whole days!? Why hasn't anyone woken him up yet?"

"Because he won't wake up. He must be unconscious, or something. We've even tried to give him water and food, but he justs spits it all back up."

Dirk stood in place, completely astounded. But then he got to thinking, _I wonder if _I _could wake him up._

So that's what he did. The first thing I ever saw after losing my memory was Dirk's pale face, discolored from the chill, along with a pair of rosy cheeks. The smell of freshly cut pine and the out of place smell of perfume entered my nose, bringing me even more into the present.

"Are you okay?" Dirk shook me by my shoulders in a panic, causing my head to wrack against the wall behind me. Along with that was the disgusting odor of his breath wafting into my nostrils.

The first thing I ever whispered to Dirk was, "Your breath reeks of cat butt and garlic."

And somehow, that did it. From that day on we were best friends, never not seeing each other for at least twelve hours. Well, until Dirk decided that he was going to play it cool with Yamada and abandon me. After that incident, Dirk had questioned me enough to get a little bit of information out. Supposedly, my name was Ventus Toshi and I was fourteen years old. That was it. That was all I knew when I had lost my memories.

That day was still fresh in my head, even though it was nearly two years ago. I could even call back that putrid smell Dirk's mouth put out and the revolt I felt when it did so.

_Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding..._The clocktower cried out another bark, telling me that I had already spent an hour on the station already, just by recalling the events of today, my bad cooking, and when I met Dirk. Time had flown by so fast, but I didn't understand why.

Thankfully my nose had stopped oozing out scarlet rivers and began to ache less. The bruises on my legs and arms still hurt, though; those would take a much longer amount of time to heal. I glanced down at my shirt and noticed a few stains of crimson here and there, obviously telling me that I had forgotten all about keeping my nosebleed from dripping onto my clothes.

_Oh well, I have bleach and a lot of the same outfit in my closet back at home. _I comforted myself and thought back to the welcoming, warm, gentle feel of the depths of slumber. Sleep began to pressure against my eyelids and grasp me between its grip. But before I could fully fall into it, I mentally noted that falling asleep on an over-one-hundred-foot tower wasn't such a good idea. I guessed that there was no possible way of me falling off though, since there was some space between the face and the ledge, unless someone pushed me off. But who would be cold-hearted enough to do something like _that_? My mind blinked an image of Yamada, Dirk, and that stalker with the bad posture, but it all faded away under the folds of unconsciousness.

I curled up on the stone floor and rested my head on my arm, the anxiety and worry of that day's events flying out of my head like a butterfly fluttering away from it's newly opened cocoon, ready to allow the gentle and humid breeze let it float away under the setting Sun and off into the distance.

-----------------------------------

The distant sound of twinkling and the booming breakout of ongoing calm was music to my ears after the recent tiring day. I took a few steps forward to clear the dizziness out of my head, each of them producing a clanking noise due to the impact on the stained glass below. In the background, a choir of voices sounded a harmonious hymn. Too bad I couldn't hear what they were saying due to the surprisingly loud noises of the world around me.

I flickered my turquoise sight to the sudden rush of color below. Underneath my shoes was a colossal, round mural made of pure stained glass, edged with a splash of forbidding black. I assumed that dark color must have been the empty realm below, just waiting there to swallow me up like a monster. It clouded and pooled around the end of the picture, some managing to wade over the side. Instantly, it all flowed back down the edges in apparent fear when a voice bellowed out across the void, _"Welcome to this desolate world."_

The next few minutes flew by as he waited for a response. I mean, what? Was I supposed to say something back to _him_, the weird, bodyless voice?

"Uh...hi?" I managed to sputter out.

The mural below shook as his medium toned snicker echoed across the void, my feet unbalancing from the sudden rush of movement. It was as if he saw this, for he mumbled in a resonating, apologetic pitch. Something to the extent of a "Sorry", or "Excuse me, my bad". I couldn't really hear because I was too busy gawking at the picture that stretched across the platform.

The first colors that I recognized right away were bright tangerine, golden yellow, and scarlet wine. All of these were dispersed evenly over the depiction, blending together a soothing but still vibrant mural that wasn't too hard to stare at.

In the very middle of all was what seemed to be a male in full body armor. This "knight" was bronze and tarnished gold, giving him a very rustic appearance. But the weird part about this "soldier" was that he didn't look like he was wearing any kind of suit I'd seen before. He was sprawled across the whole thing in a very strange position; his legs were spread far apart as he hunched over a bit and looked onward off to the right side. While in his left hand was a strange blade that resembled a saw of some sort, his right hand was reaching straight towards me, each finger even less curled as it went up, meaning that his pinky was the most tense and his index the most relaxed.

But, I think the most cool thing about him was either his weapon or the metal, pointed "ears" that stuck out straight from the back of his head. They were one of the weirdest additions I had ever seen to any outfit that existed, but for some reason I thought that they looked awesome. Don't ask me why.

In the background there was a sandy desert that stood under the blanket of night. It was an empty wasteland that had a few tawny brown rocks here and there. But there was one that stood out, probably because it was the tallest and also donned a heart shaped moon looming over it. This strange object definitely caught my attention a lot faster than the other things, for it just floated there with a navy blue aura casting a glow off to the surrounding stars. Visible breeze swirled around this whole picture and wrapped its snowy fingers around the guy in the armor, giving me a random thought to accompany it:

_Wind…_

"_Are you done yet?" _The voice rudely interrupted my perusal of the mural. In return, I figured that I would attempt to snap back, "Did I _say _that I was done?" This seemed to startle him, in fact. Look, I may seem to be a weakling when it comes to fighting, but verbally I was fully armed against all. All he did in reply was to mutter a quiet mumble that consisted of, "Sheesh…"

Another few minutes flew by as I took even more time to admire the painting of the golden and onyx warrior below before he couldn't hold back words for any longer.

"_You're quite the brave one. I think you are the only kid who's ever fought back. Really admirable, I'd say. It's nice to get one like you who's a little more interesting to chat with, keeps my brain vessels flowing."_

I rested my head on my thumb and bent index finger while I continued to contemplate my surroundings, each second making the tension between each to rise. While doing so, I managed to let out my former personal thought, "Glad I could be of service."

"_I'm glad you could be, too." _He whispered to me in a somewhat mocking voice. The silence continued before he started to crack up, choking and coughing on his own constipated-duck sounding cackle of delight. I could imagine him sitting there even better when he began to snort like a pig. On and on and on…In the beginning, it was pretty, I admit, funny, but it was getting annoying at this point. Still, I let him chortle without mentioning how weird it was. Judging from his words and the way he constructed sentences, he was maybe in either his late twenties or early thirties. Yeah, probably around there, I'd guess.

"Okay, I'm officially done now. Are you happy?"

"_Quite, my young friend. Now then, before you stands the three weapons of destiny, all pointing towards the path of wisdom, strength, and protection."_

In that same exact instant, three pedestals that were cloudy blue and snow white appeared to my right, left, and front. On each of these was an imprint of an orange star etched across the rustic marble, reminding me of the speckled night sky of Twilight Town.

In front of me was a plain silver sword that met a yellow hilt at the bottom, which also gave way to a sapphire handle. Directly in the center of the hilt was a charcoal colored star, matching the other weapon as well. To my right was a staff with an emerald handle and a blue, star top. Finally, to my left was a golden edged red shield with another black star dead center. They all seemed to match the three themes of "stars", "cartoony", and downright "plain". Not that I was complaining, since they were the only things in this whole dreamlike world that I could consider normal, but it made them seem out of place.

"_Choose well, Ventus Toshi. The fate that awaits you is not slave to chance, for choice is the structure of its shape."_

"How do you know my name?" I asked, trying to mislead him away from the fact that the second part of his speech is what really scared me. Fate? Choice? Structure? Shape? I wasn't exactly getting it. Maybe it was another one of those 'total epic fails' of mine that had decided to appear within this realm.

"_I wonder…maybe if you pass your test I'll tell ya…" _The voice trailed off and finalized it all with his trademark laugh, gnawing at me and forcing me to cringe. He must've noticed this and began to crack up even more, just to enjoy the viewing of my disgust.

I shook my head and paced towards the first of the three objects that had caught my eye quite easily. Which, in shorter and easier terms, was the sword that glinted in the faint light that had drifted from the 'ceiling' above.

Shockwaves of bitter cold pulsed through my hand towards my heart when I clutched it tenderly, holding onto it in order to pull myself up. My knee instinctively bent and gave me a foundation for support. While I knelt there upon the platform I grasped the indigo handle and swung the silver blade to the left, it's sharp edge cutting through the air in a clear slice.

"_The Power of the Warrior, Invincible Courage, A Sword of Terrible Destruction…Is this the power you seek?"_

Terrible destruction? Well, I wanted invincible courage more than anything, but terrible destruction? Maybe not. The weapon also seemed to feel…out of place within my hand. As if hearing my rejection, it floated away from my palm and made its way back to its original spot. I shook my head to his question and headed towards the shield in eagerness. As soon as I wrapped my fingers around the strangely warm handle located on the back of the metal plate, the voice rang out in an ominous tone once again, _"The Power of the Guardian, Kindness to Aid Friends, a Shield to Repel All."_

Just then it began to hum within my dominant left hand in heartbeat-like thrums. It felt right within my fingers and gave me a surge of certain strength. This must have been the one that I was supposed to choose. I glanced over to the staff and wondered if I should try that one out, too. But this weapon felt so right and comfortable, and it even waved throughout the air easier than the sword had. I gave in and raised my attention to the heavens above, waiting for him to ask whether or not this was the power I sought out. He did, and I nodded my head up and down a few times to signal that I had agreed.

"_Good choice, blondie. Now then, what will you give up in return? The Power of the Warrior or the Power of the Mystic?"_

"The power of the mystic?" I asked in perplexity.

"_The Power of the Mystic, Inner Strength, a Staff of Wonder and Ruin. Are you going to give up this power?"_

I sat there and thought about it for a while. Should I give up power or wisdom? What did I need more? The Staff seemed to resemble the energy of magic and skills, while the Sword gave me bravery and power by just looking at it.

_I've already chosen defense as my main attribute. So what goes best with it? Defense and Power or Defense and Wisdom? What to choose?_

Finally, I had decided exactly what I was going to do. My mouth uttered out to the voice, "I give up the Power of the Warrior."

"_Very well, then. You have now have the Power of the Guardian, and have given up the Power of the Warrior. Is this really what you wish to be?"_

"Yep."

Suddenly the shield engraved with the star popped out of sight in a stream of light. What replaced it was what _really _gave me the opportunity to wonder.

The first thing I ever noticed about it was the gear shaped blade that carved the outline of the top right side of the weird weapon. Its metal was completely covered, prongs to one-sided handle, with pure, onyx, shining paint and color. The only other shade that caught my eye was the sheer gold that smothered the area down at the bottom, which itself was also an out of place shape. With only one hand-guard sticking out on the right, it also had a black handle that was bitterly icy even within the depths of my sweating left hand. All of this turned to charcoal and rose up the shaft to meet the aforementioned blade that resembled a wing-like gear. This gear was also black and consisted of five prongs, each one getting longer the farther up you went. Every one of these had a silver bolt accenting the top, even on the other side. I twisted and turned it around, examining every aspect of its beauty. Another point of its existence battered my heart with a flash of shock: it reminded me of those old skeleton keys, every prong all together giving the word, teeth.

"_Well, Ven. Do you like it?" _His voice knocked me into the present almost as if he had thrown a boulder at my head.

"Um…What exactly _is _it?"

"_A Keyblade, you retard. What else would it be?"_ I almost sputtered out loud in sarcasm and laughter. A Keyblade? What was this, some kind of dinky name given to the weapon of some creepy old guy who lives in Japan's video game?

As I said before, don't even think about answering that.

"_I know, I know, this is all so confusing for you. By the way, that specific one's name is Divided Fate."_

Oh my God, I don't think I have _ever _heard a name as cheesy as Divided Fate. I gave in to my mocking and dropped to the ground. I rolled over and over and over again all over the stained glass and cackled almost as bad as him and lost myself. I'll admit, the Keyblade looked pretty awesome, but _Divided Fate_? What a joke…

"_What's wrong with it?"_

I let him have it, "The name sucks." There was absolutely no answer from him, just the sudden shaking of the mural below as if it were the voice's fist.

"_Fine then, mister judgmental. We'll have it your way. How about you come up with a good title for the weapon I spent eight months working on? If you can come up with such within ten seconds, I'll let you name it whatever that name is. If not, then it stays as Divided Fate. This starts now."_

May I say, it was quite an unfair challenge especially since all of what he said didn't sink in until second number five. But of course he didn't listen to such and carted me off. So the name of my awesome Keyblade was destined to be 'Divided Fate', go figure. At least it wasn't as bad as something like, "The Key of the Kingdom", or, "Cheesiness Itself". And at least it wasn't an extremely girly Keyblade with a bunch of flowers all over it. The way I was holding _Divided Fate _right now seemed a little awkward for me, so I made my way around and grasped it in quite an odd angle: the protruding inner hand guard was pointing to me and protecting my thumb while the outer faced the other direction and was guarding my other four fingers. This also meant that when I readied into a battle position, it would stick out behind me while I led the front lines against any monsters or Drennins. If I was fast enough, though, I could easily manage swinging it in front of me to block any assaults.

"_There you go, your own weapon. Treat it nicely." _

"What? This is mine?" Was he really going to just give it to me? This completely left me stumped, and here I thought that the voice was beginning to hate me.

It was almost as if he had heard my thoughts, for he coughed to get my attention and pursued, _"Why would I hate you?" _This was ended by another snicker.

"_Oops, no time for that. It looks like the Unversed are here to stir up some nice trouble for us." _Just then, a mystifying and dark figure arose from the mural below like a zombie rising from the grave. It was either navy or indigo, some kind of a dark purplish blue. Two antennae spouted out of its head and were jagged, almost shaped like two cobalt lightning bolts. Its knees were bent constantly and it also was forever stuck in a hunched state. The face was pointed like a triangle, and jutted out like a horse's snout, but much less smaller in size. Almost like a fox's, but in a very weird color. It even had little points sticking out of the cheeks.

It stood there and analyzed every ounce of my being, its crimson slits squinting whenever it met my amazed gaze. In a very swift manner it seemed to twitch and bend over, hissing erupting abruptly from its deformed mouth. A minuscule, pink tongue peeked out of its face and swished back and forth at a rhythmic rate. That kind of reminded me of the hero of hillbilly proportions; he had done just the same when he was recovering from the attack.

Blood began to seep out of a fresh wound that had suddenly appeared on my right arm. The skin around it welled up and swelled as I faced my head towards the now smirking little monster, which seemed to also enjoy the sight of the crimson liquid dripping off of its pointed arm. It cocked its little head to the side in contemplation and let its little tongue stick out and take a lick of my life essence. I guess the Unverse liked it, for it continued to lap up the fluid eagerly, each taste forcing it to become more feral and twitchy. For some reason the wound didn't bother me. Though, it did ooze a little more when every single heartbeat passed. I let it hang down at my side and I raised the other with _Divided Fate _still in hand, ready to strike out at the little thief. Was it some kind of a vampire? Or did it just like the acrid tang of iron pulsing throughout its throat? Either way, I wasn't going to let it get away too easily.

My Keyblade was flung around behind me as I raced towards the Unverse with speed that certainly caught me by surprise. How did I gain the ability to run so fast in that short amount of time? This question left me when I began to thrash _Divided Fate _around at the little creature, every single blow dodged with ease. So, this thing wasn't nearly as dumb as it looked.

Another wound was scored across my arm from the Unverse as it ran past, along with another spurt of red that shot out of my skin like that of a fountain. Droplets hit the stained glass below as if it were raining cranberry juice. I shuddered and flinched backward in revolt while the Unverse crept closer in interest.

It began to wobble up to me, and once it had, it grasped my arm and began to bite down with its sharp little teeth.

"Get away!" I tried desperately to sweep it off of my right lower arm, but it still clamped on tight. I instantly took my Keyblade and whacked it on top of the head. But instead of letting go it held on even tighter. Shaking my arm furiously to try to get it to fly away didn't even work, and it still held on stubbornly like ivy to stone.

"Let...go...now!" I screamed at the Unverse and shook my arm even harder than I had before, which might have been impossible if I hadn't been under pressure. Still, it bit harder and harder. So much blood had been lost that I was beginning to feel drowsy and sleepy. Out of each side of its mouth, rivers of scarlet gushed out in vast quantities. Truthfully I was losing blood a little too fast and my head began to ache with all that loss. But I had to get rid of this Unvi or whatever it was fast, or I don't think I could've made it.

_Think of something, Toshi. Come on! _I yelled at myself in desperation and struggled for ideas.

My heart also started to throb from fear, so much that I tried to anything to get the beast off of me: rolling all over the ground and flinging my arm back and forth, knocking its head against the mural. Finally I got so fed up with it that I stepped on the creature and tugged my arm upwards.

Really, really, _really _bad idea. All it did was give the Unverse more reason to clamp down harder and pull the flesh away from my wound, more and more blood that I thought possible was now gushing out in a flood. By now the ground was soaked, some streams trickling over the edge of the circular platform. I knew that if I had died from this thing, the only words written on my grave would be "Total Epic Failure". I shook just thinking about it.

"Graah!" I slurred with agony and pain. Soon I even fell to my knees due to my weakness and slammed my fist up and down, not just because the blue monster was still attached, but because I had failed at destroying such an easy enemy to vanquish.

"_Wow, I didn't think that you were that weak. I shouldn't tell you this since it will probably make you even angrier. But, that's the weakest kind of enemy there is. I'd hate to see you go up against the others." _

"Shut...the hell up, please." My teeth gritted as the pain of both the voice's comment and the Unverse's teeth sank in even more. Great, another one of those sour asses who never have or will believe in me. I was totally getting sick of them, Dirk, Yamada, Drennin, even some old fart voice who doesn't have the guts to come down and let me see him along with just watching me as I was ripped apart by an Unverse. Some day, I'd show them all my strength.

No, _today_ I would show them my strength.

Jumping up into the air with bravery coursing through my recently blood-empty veins caused the Unverse to stir from its previously limp state to its original twitchy self.

I finally managed to swing _Divided Fate _through the Unverse's silky flesh and reduce it to nothing more than ashes that drifted away lazily off into the dark distance. Relief overwhelmed me in he pulsing waves of my emotional breath of air. I could fell a tingling sensation on my arm. Glancing at it made me realize that the skin was now crawling back into place. Then it began to meld together, giving me a sense of disgust and comfort at the same time. Still I laid on the floor, though, taking a breather from having to fight a stupid weak monster that looked like the gunk and lint that lined the space between my toes. I thought so, at least.

"_I wouldn't relax so quickly, Ven. You've got another 'friend' to deal with." _

It seemed as if he was summoning them at the same time he told me about my crappy luck. On cue, one more fiend shot outwards from the door that stood in front of me and...wait, when did that door get there? It stood there and allowed me to scan it over: mostly, it was just an ordinary marble entrance with white, ornate handles and everything, but it also had a mysterious glowing crown emblazoned upon the top. An indigo, trademark pointed hand caressed the edge of the door on my side and did the same a few seconds later with its other hand, this time I was able to see the tip curl around the door and circle it twice. While this hand was entwined like a vine coveting damp stone, the other one cast a black shadow above me as it came to reach me. There was absolutely no place to go with its paw being so big that it smothered the whole platform.

"Let me go!" I struggled to wiggle out of its grip as it carried me through the door. I even grabbed the handles on the inside of the door and held them with a death grip. But to no avail, I was thrown into the abyss along with Mr. Huge. Everything seemed to black out like an exploding pen full of ink, blotches of darkness obscuring my vision. In that world I heard the ominous choir in the background's voices more clearly: it seemed that they were speaking in some different language:

_Destati, Tendi la mano.._.

_E'guinta lora, Destati_

_Le porte, verranno schiuse_

_Su rimembra tu trepida_

_Su sveglia! Ehi ricorda_

_Destati, Destati,_

_Forza, tendi la mano_

_Destati, Destati_

_E'guinta lora_

_E ancora una volta_

_Apriranno le porte_

_Su remembra, tu trepida_

_Su sveglia, Ehi recorda_

_Eh? Come? Non lo vuoi_

_Tuttavia T'appartiene_

_Cio che, hai perduto_

_Diventera uno_

After a few moments of silence and voices I awoke on a mural identical to the original except for that the warrior was frozen completely head to toe with his helmet off. But the gigantic Unverse that had laid its feet upon it was blocking the view. This made me extremely curious, but all of that was flicked away when the creature attacked me first with a swing of its rose thorn barbed arm. After dodging this affront, I glanced at it to take its appearance in. It was almost exactly the same as the smaller Unverse, but was huge and owned a somewhat different shaped head.

I missed another blow that was meant to be dealt to my side by jumping out of its barbed way. Crimson slits glared scarlet fury at me as the monster concentrated on me. This pause gave me the chance to counteract with a hit to its legs.

Instinctively I ran to one side and hacked away at its silky being, each cut spitting out ashes like mine did blood. The terrible creature hissed and growled at the pain I inflicted upon it. I taunted it by balling my hand into a fist and thrusting my elbow downwards, giving me a sense of victory.

My feet were swept out from under me when the Unverse struck back for revenge. My head hit the floor first, giving me a serious headache, and before I could even get up I was pinned down once again with one of his hands. Opportunity was definitely mine while the Unverse raised its unused paw to claw at my face. _Divided Fate _sliced through its wrist like scissors through weak paper, cutting it straight off. A giant hand landed next to me and gave me the chills. It still writhed and squirmed like a worm wriggling through wet earth, struggling to make it to its objective; in this case, me.

I half expected the weird creature to sprout a new hand, but it didn't. Instead it fell to the ground and slammed its remaining fist into every previous spot I had been in. But instead of me being the Epic Failure, he stole the title away easily. The rest of it screamed and glared at me with even more crimson spite. I stood up and made a face, which also included my tongue sticking out and crossed, bugged out eyeballs. Before it met death and the end, the Unverse managed to leave one more scratch on my face. But the abrasion didn't even hurt. Didn't even make me flinch.

My enemy transformed into gray ashes that floated away on an unforeseen wind that had passed unexpectedly. All it left behind was claw marks running through the knight's true face, covering everything of it except for the two blue eyes that looked somewhat familiar to what I remembered to be mine. The voice above must have noticed my interest and mumbled to me, _"Too bad that Unverse decided to claw y-I mean, _that _guy's face away except for his eyes. Would've been fun to see your reaction."_

"Of course." I grinned in being right about knowing that he would say something to that extent.

"_Good work, kiddo. I can see quite easily that you have great potential. He'll be enthralled to hear about it. Well, goodbye. I'm gonna miss the weirdest kid that's ever been here."_

"Weirdest? At least I don't give corny names to the most awesome weapons."

He sighed as everything faded out into more nothing again, muttering something like, _"By far, Ventus."_

Cool wind from the open air on top of the clock tower shot into my lungs like a waterfall of oxygen. The lights of heaven above peeked through the dark sheet of night and twinkled brightly. Even the milky spill of white seemed to glow in bands of silk that weaved throughout the cloth. My skull had been laying crooked on the wall behind me, which gave me pain to think about. I laid in an awkward position, my legs being hugged by my arms tightly and my head cranked the opposite way. Though through all this, my attention was diverted mostly to the discomfort on my forehead. I almost raced my fingers to that spot, but slowed them a little when I recalled that that's where I was scratched by the Unverse before it died. Fingertips rubbed the scar tenderly, but even that was enough to irritate its sensitive scab. If it was just a dream, then how did that mark appear over my right eyebrow and brow?

A person sounded from below in an urgent tone, obviously in a rush, "I know this is weird, but please tell me where he is. If I don't get him there on time-just...at least tell me if you know where you saw him last."

"How am I supposed to know where that geek lives? All I know is that he's a super nerd and has the weirdest last name ever-" My heart skidded over a beat: This was one of the boys who had tried to beat me up today along with Drennin the macho buttface.

"How do you know him?"

While the other kid paused to think up an answer, I swung my sleeping legs over the side of the ledge and knelt to look down below.

And guess who was the one asking the questions?

The dark brunette's hair shone in the moonlight and kept me from believing that it was totally black. He still was wearing his strange samurai/hillbilly/knight outfit proudly and pants that looked like a tan skirt when his legs were closed.

"Tell me _now_, or I'll-"

"That's not really the way to handle an innocent civilian, Terra. Try to be a little more gentle." A feminine voice was added to the conversation.

"Like this," While she patted the shoulder of the kid and started to murmur to him, I stole a glance at her appearance and licked it up in amazement.

This girl looked to be either my age or the guardian's, about fifteen or sixteen, I'd say. On her arms were long white sleeves that were attached by only a matching set of armor on each. These snowy sleeves covered everything middle arm and down, only her long fingernails at the bottom were showing. Her shirt was short sleeved and stretchy black like the supposed Terra's, and had many white "x's" laced down the two sides of her front. Pink straps also like the other boy's criss-crossed her chest and were held together at the crossing by the same symbol that Terra held, except that hers was a glinting bronze. The shirt I mentioned before came down to shorts that only had a small amount of skin before long and onyx tights led into her shining silver armor shoes. The toes of these were pointed; I felt bad for any guy who had been hitting on her and was kicked in his sensitive area in return. Covering her whole bottom half from the sides was a blue skirt wrapped in even more white cloth.

But the most stunning part of her was her certain beauty...

And her dark _blue _hair.

Who were these people? If it was my part to guess, I would've assumed that they were traveling circus bums who were on the run from a freak convention in order to avoid being the ringmaster's pawns.

"All we need to get from you is some information, so please be kind and tell us where this boy lives. If you cannot then just shake your head and tell us if you know of anyone who knows where he is."

"Okay, fine. He lives on the lane right next to Market Street, and his house is orange and cream. You can't miss it. He has blond, really spiky hair and blue eyes, kinda short..."

I didn't hear the rest because I could only concentrate on my own fear. These people were looking for _me_? Seriously, this day was getting weirder by the second. But as all of this pounded through my head, a calming speculation also coursed through my thoughts:

_Even if they search my house they still won't find me; I'm not there. Unless-_

"But the last time I really saw him was when he was sleeping on top of the clock tower and drooling about some thing in his dreams. I almost knocked him awake just to play around, but I left him when I started to creep out; that was when he began to murmur about teeth and cheesy names."

"Gee, thanks for telling those stalkers where I am, retard." I chastised to him in my own silence. The wind of the twilit evening played with my hair and forced it to rub my forehead, giving me an itch right in the middle of my brow.

Air was the only holding up my left hand after I had accidentally slipped it off. But only because I had put too much stock into it, carelessly leaning on it far too much. My tense hand balled up and relaxed rhythmically until I had the courage to lean on it once again while only holding on to the ledge.

"I'd look there first if you can. It was only about right before you came that I tried to bug him."

They both peered up at the tower and instantly saw me, which sent the sudden thought of "Oh, crap." running through my head.

"Is that the kid you're telling us about?" Terra tilted his head downwards to the right and raised his eyebrow. This question gave the boy the incentive to also glance at me. I almost crapped my boxers when he nodded and agreed, giving the two their answer to my whereabouts.

The blue haired girl thanked him in the most formal and business like manner I'd never seen before from any teenager, "We appreciate your utmost amount of cooperation." This was followed by a, "What she said." from Terra. My little tattle-tale shrugged at the weird experience and made his way across the plaza in slow, but moderate pace, unaware that he had just busted me. In their assumed eagerness to find me, the two stalkers of mine both ran like no tomorrow over towards the back of the huge clock. This meant I had little to no time to escape and get away to a safe place.

_I wonder why they're looking for me for anyways..._

As soon as I heard their shoes clacking on the stone steps, urgency had finally begun thrumming in my being. How was I going to get away? I couldn't go down the only safe route because, of course, they were coming up _the safe route_.

_God, how am I going to get away? I can't- _My insistence was interrupted by the duo of flaky nutcases dressed in perturbing crack outfits moderately taking steps towards me.

Before I could sputter out anything the boy named Terra decided to say something first.

"Hey, step out into the moonlight so we can see you." He ordered. I realized that I had instinctively decided to bask in the shadows of the tower. Without any haste the blue haired lass sidestepped around me and blocked the other way out of this predicament. I had no choice but to oblige. Rubber against seemingly unbreakable stone sounded throughout the air as I strode into the wash of white.

His mouth gave off a gasp as he recognized me, every fiber of my being resembling the same exact kid that he had rescued the same day. Blue eyes flickered with disappointment when he was done taking in who I actually was.

"You are...you're that guy that I protected today...And all this time we were told to look for a very special and strong man whose name was Ventus. That couldn't possibly be a runt like you, could it?" That comment left me feeling quite frustrated.

"I dunno. Ask all the kids at my school: they'll be surely happy to inform you of any other ways you can make fun of me." My fists balled up and my fingernails dug into my palm. Was everyone bound to laugh at me today?

"No, no, I didn't mean it that way. It's just that-"

"What he means, kiddo, is that we have been searching day after day, night after endless night, all because our master wanted us to find someone who he has noticed has a powerful heart and being. And we come to you, some little boy who doesn't look a day over twelve. We're just a bit disappointed, is all." The female interrupted with spite. Now that she was closer I was able to notice that her breasts were...huge. She waved her hand up and down to get my attention and sighed, "With hormones to match."

My cheeks flushed red as I struggled to latch onto an excuse, but none came.

"So, are you really Ventus Toshi or did that kid lie to us? If you aren't, we can't afford to idle around." For some reason I wasn't scared of letting them know my identity. Maybe it was because I had already accepted the fact that they were really here to gawk at my weak appearance instead of harming me.

"Are you going to drag me back to the circus to see your ringmaster if I am?"

They both glared at me in despise and hate, giving me a chance to smile and enjoy their facial expressions for a bit.

"So you _are _Ventus Toshi." The girl assumed with certainty.

"What makes you figure that?" I asked back.

"Because if you aren't..." Terra ran up behind me, utilizing my turned back, and holstered me by the waist like I was a football. Then he paused to nod at the girl and paced up to the ledge and stared down below, confidently, completely ignoring my wriggling and squirming.

"Let's go." The female walked up next to Terra and they both focused on the ground that was tucked tightly underneath the clock tower. Without warning, they both dove off and let the wind brush past their hair with a certain gentleness. While they remained abnormally still, I willingly, but embarrassingly, screamed out to Terra at the top of my lungs," Aren't you going to finish what you were going to say!?"

In that moment everything seemed to stop as he realized his own shock at the random question, his cobalt irises flashing with amusement. As it sank in he began to grin. His flicked his eyesight to me and cackled, his breath catching to mumble, "Nah."


	2. 1:1:2 Capture and the Creep

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep:Destiny's Recall~Ven's Story, Book 1, Chapter 2~Capture and the Creep~

NOTE: Welcome my readers and loyal fans(I really wish), today I bring you another chapter of my new story, Birth by Sleep:Destiny's Recall. Sorry the last one was so long! I just thought that it would move the story along a lot faster if I put all that in one whole chapter. :), which, I didn't do so well with that kind of thing in BBS Zero. But anyways, I have also added a note to thank my reviewer ShinobiMatt, who has also been kind enough to do the same for a lot of chapters in BBS Zero. That's all for this day, my friends. Please enjoy the rest of the story of Mr. Toshi, the kid who everyone disses on and expects him to be happy to not fight back, which it pleasantly surprises them when he lets them have it.

The author of this story,

~Eternal Symphonia~

Terra and I both landed heavily on the cobblestoned earth when his feet met the pavement, while the other traveler, a feminine presence who seemed to be about fifteen or sixteen, gracefully alighted down like an angel sent on a mission to the world below. Her armor-like shoes barely even made a noise when they greeted the ground as if there was a pliable layer of cushion between her and the pale apricot field underneath. The two of them both hesitated their rushed ascent into the unknown to give each other a curt nod of agreement. Of what they both decided on together, I did not know. Maybe beforehand they had cooked up a nice plan that could go two ways; and since it went this way, they figured they should go with the first idea, or the second, or the third. Whatever way it was, I still was completely confused and too focused on escaping the crushing arm of the male teen who held me to even care. As if on a silent signal from either of the team, they both sprinted off at a pretty breakneck dart. It didn't seem to phase Terra when I made the decision to clamp my teeth down on his shackle-like arm. I was forced to stop after I had begun to laugh at how it reminded me of the recent dream of mine and the Unverse. Why would I chuckle at that, though? From what I remembered, it had been quite painful, but here I was cackling about it. Right there and then, the scar that had been scored across my forehead started to burn like the hell fires of oblivion; I squinted as the burden weighed down on my face and gritted my teeth, showing my discontent and hoping they wouldn't see.

Of course, Terra decided to ask about it when he noticed that I was trying to face the other way, "Trying to hide your face from the world to prevent more people becoming blind?"

I spat and replied, "And why _wouldn't_ you say that to someone?" Truthfully, I was really trying to remind him of the tactful way of acting around people that was mostly accepted, a.k.a, _manners_. But of course he didn't take the hint and shrugged in perplexity..

"I think what he means, Terra, is that it is his business what disgusting bubble of oil lies on his face and has the right to hide it without you making some comment." The girl budged in with an as-matter-of-fact tone, obviously chastising him for his rudeness without realizing that I wasn't trying to hide a pimple. Were they both_ that_ retarded? I mean, they were older than me and even more experienced, but still I considered them to be as dull as a bare white wall.

We raced up the thick alley of Market Street like the wind, no people there to turn the road into an obstacle course due to the late hour. I glanced up at the sky above and admired the pleasant waves of silver silk that wound around the many points of light. This whole scene brought me from the depths of fear into the cradles of wonder and peace; this gave me the inkling to think about the great parts of my kidnapping. At least I wasn't being taken away by that creepy guy with the yellow eyes. And, maybe with this bout of events I could actually gain a nice amount of excitement in my life. I mean, wasn't this really what I wanted? A sense of adventure seemed to cloud my senses and strangle me with joy.

Terra uncomfortably shifted his eyesight down to me after realizing the sudden change in the bubble of atmosphere around me.

"Now that I think of it, I'm actually glad you guys are kidnapping me." I announced to the two and watched with glee as they both skidded to a stop, lurching when they finally began to slow.

"_What_ did you just say?" Both of them mimed the other with surprise.

"I'm just mentioning, I'm kind of excited that you both are stealing me."

All I got in return for a reply was four blue eyes that revealed curiosity, confusion, and stupor. While the female crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, Terra glued his attention to the sky as he tried to hide his surprise. The girl saw that Terra wasn't going to reply and did it for him, "And why would that be?"

"Because my life is stupid and boring."

All of them shrugged their shoulders in agreement that I was a seriously weird kid.

"Well, come on. Don't tell me that you've _never _thought that your existence was flat."

I was ignored and held tighter and closer to the brunette teen as they both began, again, to run off to their unknown destination. Another few minutes and streets flew by as we traveled in dead silence. This gave me the time to glance back up at the starry night sky and admire each constellation that I recognized: Cygnus the Swan, Aquila the Eagle, Lyra the Lyre, The Big Dipper and the little one, Draco the Dragon, Hercules, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and so on. They all belonged to the category of the Summer constellations, which I personally thought were better than the Winter ones. But that's just me. How do I know so much about Astronomy? Well, I've been fascinated with the stars ever since the first night after I had woken up to see Dirk's face. He told me about a few of them after I had asked whether or not he had been interested in the subject. That was the time when I really thought of Dirk as my best friend, even though I had only met him ten hours before. Anyways, I got to where I had started to take nightly scans of the sky almost every day. For some reason they gave me the feeling of nostalgia, and always made me think of my beginning without receiving negative emotions in return. Maybe it was because I knew that when you looked up at the night sky, you were technically seeing pictures of the past; vast images of millions of years beforehand. It was like looking at a more colorful and interesting textbook than the ones you'd find on a school desk. More fascinating than text and pictures of old newspaper clippings and war planes and tanks. More intriguing than the lonely little world that I lived in. Technically, they interested me because I knew that they were much more different than anything that existed within my life. Throughout my freshman year, which was what I had just finished, I had taken three astronomy classes to fill up my extra hour in each trimester. Well, it was either that or sewing. My school, sadly, didn't hold many choices for the extra class that they insisted that every student have. So astronomy it was. That was the only thing I could remember from my past: the fact that I was interested in the stars and night sky before I had lost all of my memories.

Right now I could make out the diamond shape of Aquila's wingspan and the cross-like structure of Cygnus, the bright star of Lyra twinkling not too far away. Overhead of the Big Dipper was the little one, and in between them was the winding ribbon of Draco, his head pointing to the bottom of the "w", commonly more referred to as Cassiopeia. Next to her was the house shaped figure of her husband, Cepheus. Rising in the east was the giant square of Pegasus, Andromeda riding on the center of his back.

Sorry, I'm probably boring you to death with my knowledge of the night sky. But what else was I supposed to do when I was being kidnapped? Pay attention to my captors? Nah, then I'd probably start worrying again whether or not their unknown master really _was _some creepy clown ringmaster. It wouldn't have surprised me, anyway.

"We're here." Terra poked at my cheek, causing me to notice that we had completely stopped and were standing in front of the haunted mansion that lay on the edge of town, smack dab in the middle of the forest.

"Do you live here?" I questioned.

"No, we are just going to rest here until morning. Then we teleport out of here and to Castle Celest to pass you over to Master Lumina."

"Who's-" I was going to ask who Master Lumina was, but the girl rudely interrupted with impatience shining through her quiet exterior.

"You'll know when we get to Celest."

I sighed as Terra and his companion made their way to the tall iron gate that kept everything from entering and escaping the front gardens of the massive house.

"How are we going to get in?" I asked another question and was answered by the flickering light that started to appear within turquoise head's palm. From this azure ball of light came a ribbon of glowing blue that entwined around her right hand and wove over her arm a few times. Suddenly, her hand began to illuminate with cobalt and a large object appeared.

The first thing I noticed about it was the cold hues of the colors: gray, white, and mostly, or course, blue. At the top, or tip of the blade, was a crown shaped outline of sapphire, the bottom edge changing into an icy white. In the middle of this shape were three more white shapes; one half of a diamond shape sticking out from the middle point of the crown and two bottom-and-side pieces of a square in each corner. Connecting this to the hilt was a long blade of indigo, more so blue than purple. Two more diamonds the same color of the blade blocked your path before the head of the hilt. The handle was pure black with an amethyst, onyx, and white guard to protect it. At the top of this hand guard it was black, then at the middle it turned violet, then at the very bottom it was white. This weapon reminded me of winter and the idea of snow, inevitably bringing me back to the thought of my forbidden past and the very light inkling of the first thing I felt when I woke up to see the disturbed face of Dirk. A beam of light radiated from the tip as she pointed it at the huge keyhole that was darkly etched into the lock. Crink...the door squeaked open as the gears inside of the metal door shackle turned. As she put her first foot forward to enter the yard I realized that the weird object she was carrying resembled a key. That would make sense, since she had just unlocked the gate into the mansion's perimeters with it.

"Nice baton." I murmured to her as she walked into the front yard, referring to the ongoing joke I kept bringing up about how they were part of a circus.

"It's not a baton, kiddo. It's called a Keyblade." Terra announced, leaving me stunned. How would he have known about the dream I had before they took me? And why did he keep calling me kiddo? Terra noticed my confusion and briefly explained as we strutted after the girl, "A weapon only granted to those who have a strong enough heart. I have one, also."

Another squeak erupted from the ornate doors that the teen who held me as he opened them with his free hand. The girl followed and the sky was left behind as we stepped into the dreary, dark, old manor. Through the windows, I could see moonlight streaming through like spotlights onto the floor. A large and golden chandelier was suspended from the ceiling over a long oak dining table, a few chairs scattered around its frame. They each were the same color of the dinner table except for the crimson velvet that coated the seats.

"Welcome to our rest stop for the night. Aqua will stay in the white room above us while we both will sleep down here." Terra broadcasted into our ears the plans of our stay while also finally giving away the name of the girl. Aqua...it suited her very well.

"See you guys. I'll be upstairs." Aqua somewhat skipped over to the stairs in excitement; what a change of attitude. Her footsteps were heard as she walked on the hall overhanging the right side of the dining room. The door she walked into unseen slammed behind her, leaving a positively blistering comeback to sear across the room she had left.

Terra set me down and watched as I got back up, my feet giving out for a second due to my inability to walk for so long. I stumbled and picked myself back up while watching Terra settle down in one of the aforementioned chairs.

I stood there in silence as he took in my image, his gaze drifting over my face, my size, and then into my eyes. My feet instinctively shuffled back and forth as he bore into my own sight with interest. I was extremely uncomfortable, with him staring vacantly at me and all. The curves of his face rippled when a grin cracked his expression into a more inviting manner. My eyes darted to another spot in the room when he started to snort in laughter. He didn't actually snort, though, but from the look on his face it seemed that at any moment he was ready to.

"You're actually glad that we're abducting you?" He requested an answer to my recent announcement of happiness.

"I guess...I mean, it's much more fun being taken away by a bunch of eccentric freaks than staying at home with my backstabbing friends and stupid school."

"You really hate your life, don't you?" He asked suddenly and out of his normal tone. This time it seemed that he was concerned. But how could he be? He didn't even know me all that well. Maybe he was just one of those caring guys who were concerned for other's happiness. He _did _save me from Drennin, after all.

"No, I don't hate it. But it's no cup of warm tea either. By the way, thanks for saving me back when that guy and his friends ganged up on me." I tried to get him off of the subject, but he ignored my appreciation and crossed his arms onto the back of the chair and rested his head on them. His eyes haltingly closed as he asked another question, "Apparently you've had quite the tough existence. Our master told us about it and mentioned something about having a hard past."

Hard past? The blood inside my veins boiled with high temperature. How would some old and crazy ringmaster know about _my_ life? It made me angry just thinking about it and sitting there looking dumb to Terra. At least I knew for a fact that he wouldn't press for more informa-

"So what about your past would make you so mad? I was told that whenever anyone asks you about it you freak out and get really angsty about everything."

My hands instantly balled into fists as I replied, "Which is exactly why you shouldn't mention it when you know what my reaction will be." He recoiled with a little blink that offered the inkling of fright. But it went away almost instantaneously.

"Sorry to bug you about it. I was just a little curious, that's all."

"Don't worry about it," I paused to lick my lips like a dog, "Everyone else does, so I'm pretty used to it."

After this comment he rustled his left hand into his pocket and fidgeted around, obviously fishing around for something.

"Hmmm...."Terra raised his head off of his woven arms and turned to face me, focusing on the small trinket that he had just looted from his pocket like a magician. The item glinted in bronze, giving off a golden brown cast due to the moonlight showering down upon it like droplets of a thundering storm. He held it up as if his hand was a pedestal, mounting it between his right forefinger and bent thumb. Examining it carefully, he felt each indentation tenderly with his other free fingertips. The medal brightened a path to his spiritual heart as he turned it downwards.

"What-" He interrupted before I could even ask.

"It's my apprentice medal from when I was still at a bronze level. You know, a newbie?"

"Oh." I became interested in this..."level" system that Terra had brought up. Maybe I could press him for more information, I thought.

"So, what are you at now?" The carpeted floor below revealed the aching of aged wood as I paced over next to him.

Squeaking sounded from the chair, giving me warning of his next response, which was a slight turn caused by the swiveling of his feet. Then, he got up and stared downwards at me,giving me a faint reminder of our slight height difference; I had to careen my head backwards to figure out his expression. A faint smile caressed the outlines of his face as he tapped at the silver symbol that was attached to the top gray part of his pants, the silky black ribbons encasing its edges like ivy.. It was identical to the copper emblem he held except for the obvious color change.

"Silver, after beginner but before gold."

"Wow, how long did it take you to get there?"

"Not very long..." His smile had turned into a spirited beam, telling me that he was apparently flattered by my showers of questions and attention that related to his status, so to speak.

For a while there he just stood and began to bore into my own eyes, focusing every now and then. At that moment, I could feel a weird, pulsing vibration in my chest, as if something was coming in and reaching for my soul. His blue sight encrusted palm seemed to wrap its fingers around my heart and hold it there. Terra then closed his eyes, but I was still entranced. Then, he opened them up again.

"You _do _have a really strong heart...

Had he just delved into my spirit? I know, I know. That was a _seriously _strange question to ask anyone. But really? And, for some reason, it was calming.

Don't bombard me with insults of my cheesiness for what I just said.

"What about the girl?" I asked to avert his attention away from his previous "endeavor".

"Aqua? She-" I didn't hear the rest of his explanation because I was too fixated on how her name matched her appearance. Blue hair, blue eyes, sleek figure, curvy edges...

"Yeah, she became an apprentice to Master Lumina around the same time I did. Well, a little later, I guess." He slipped his hands easily back into his pockets, expectantly staring staring at me for a reply.

So, I gave him one:

"Is your 'master'," I paused my sentence to create speaker tags with my fingers. "Is he really strict?"

Terra raised one of his eyes to the ceiling along with an eyebrow, thinking quite carefully. As he continued his quest to find an answer that wouldn't force crap to run into my pants as I ran out of the front doors of the mansion, I admired once again my surroundings intently with my eyes increasing their cobalt intensity each and every second I spent making out the pair of trademark amber circles that squinted, telling me that he was positioned somewhere in the "side" garden outside. My stalker had returned, making me certain that this time he was going to try something.

"He's not...He's not, so to speak, mean. But he sure doesn't take any crap from anyone." I assumed that this last comment was backed up by his own experience. Was Terra really a troublemaker? Actually, he seemed more like one of those quiet guys who sits in the corners and daydreams life away. Or was that me? Maybe even both of us?

Terra reassured me when he saw the rising fear in my face, and probably guessed it wasn't because of anything else but his master's description.

"You'll know what I mean when you get to meet him."

"I'm _meeting _him?"

"Don't worry, he'll like you. I'm sure of it."

_How could he know that his 'master' will like me when we haven't even seen the whites of each other's eyes?_

He interrupted my thoughts again (something that I noticed Terra had a tendency to do)m trying to get off of the subject, "Anyways, you'd better get some shut-eye; we have a long day ahead of us."

The Quasimodo-postured man blinked again like an owl and stepped out into the natural spotlight. Noticing my diverted attention, Terra clenched his teeth and glanced over at him, taking a double take as if he knew the creeper. Layers of confidence peeled away from his face as if he was an orange in the hands of a kid, revealing a more concerned and confused facade. More of my stalker appeared and soon his whole body was attached to the rest.

Actually, he really _was _a crusty old coot with horrible back problems; the light bounced off of his bare skull and his silver goatee. Sadly, the chin hair was the only hair that existed on his whole entire body.

At this time his eyes were even brighter than before and gave me an inkling of mockery no different from that afternoon, as if he thought that Terra and I were completely hilarious. Even from my twenty foot distance I could make out a disturbing, maniacal glower etched into his face where his mouth should have been.

His apparel consisted of a long, obsidian coat with silver shoulder guards. Many matching straps and belts crisscrossed over his upper torso. Buttons ran down the whole front and kept each side together, except at the top, which gave away the pure snow undershirt that lay underneath, having even more black buttons strewn about. But this time it was closed all the way and concealed his chest skin, thankfully. The neck cuffs sprawled out over the top of his overcoat. Black tights led down into his tall and similar colored boots, which only had white at the very top where it was outlined. Obscuring his hands were only conventional gloves that resembled his undershirt. Everything else that existed as his garments were the four onyx belts that were separated about on his outfit: two wrapped around his wrists like snakes and the others were tightened around his lower waist. Like Terra, he reminded of a crack mix of things: a mad scientist, a lunatic, and...well. He didn't really remind me of the third one, but only because he actually _was _a stalker.

"Master-"

Terra's suddenly scared greeting was interrupted by the old figure, who had suddenly disappeared and was breathing into both of our necks, right behind us.

"Young man, I see you and Aqua have finally managed to capture your target." Judging from the tone in his voice, he actually sounded like he had endured a few hard times. It cracked every single time he pronounced a short "e", like when he said the word, "capture". It kinda sounded rhythmic in a way, but at the same time creepy.

I started to get confused when Terra brushed his pants off and cleaned himself, trying to look good in front of this man. After fixing his hair back into place he bowed as low as he could and muttered an apology.

"I am sorry to be in your great presence with such a ruffian appearance, Master Xehanort. But I did not know of your arrival and had no time to prepare."

What? Did I just hear Terra tell this weirdo coot that his presence was _great_? If I didn't know any better due to Terra's deep and apologetic tone, I would've guessed that he was just kidding around. But he looked so dead serious. He couldn't have been fooling me this time.

"Do not worry about such things. All I came for was to make sure for your master that you were fine."

He, still bowing, mumbled another professional statement of either washed down surprise or sincere appreciation, "Thank you very much, Master." Terra raised his torso just so that he could lower once again.

"Anyways, is this kid the one you were meant to find?" Master Xehanort turned his suspended head towards me and inspected every ounce of my existence. Once his eyes met mine again, but I flicked my own away in embarrassment. I guess that was my way of mentioning that I had a little bit of respect for him, but only because Terra had done so and I felt awkward not to follow. Don't call this an excuse, but he also gave me a _really _scary feeling when I focused on the core of his soul through those amber tinted windows. It was like looking outside through a peephole to find that the police were there to arrest you for something you had not done, but you knew that they had reasonable evidence to do so.

"Yes." My former guardian and current kidnapper nodded vigilantly.

"Very well, then, " Xehanort turned around with a squeak of his boots and headed for the front door. As he strolled away with his arms crossed behind his back, he cackled a farewell, "Not really a person worthy to be kidnapped. But good luck trying to tell that to Master Lumina, that stubborn man."

"Another point goes to the hate on Toshi team."

"He doesn't just dislike you only, he insults everyone because he doesn't think his shit stinks."

So apparently Terra had begun to distance himself from Xehanort as well. Past experience, probably.

"Has he been like that in the past?"

Terra rolled his eyes as if I was stupid enough not to get it...

"Well, I was just wondering about it, that's all."

"Anyhow, we'd better get some rest for tomorrow, so you can..." He darted his eyesight to a nice, cold spot in the corner and pointed, nodding to back up his command.

"You can sleep over there and I'll sleep in the other corner. We get up whenever Aqua does, so expect that to be pretty early."

Humor clutched the back of my throat with a pretty tight grip, "When she _demands it_, you mean?"

"She may seem bossy and stuffy, but Aqua actually is a really caring friend." Terra defended, his tone suddenly becoming a little irritated. I backed up a little ways from him and shuffled my feet to carry me over to the corner, followed by my mouth instinctively muttering an apology.

"It's okay. Just remember not to say anything like that in front of her. Trust me, she won't be as hot as you thought she was when it gets to that."

_Noted: don't make Aqua mad or she'll kill you._ I sarcastically mentioned to myself as I settled into the corner and laid down, ignoring the serious look in Terra's eyes.

"G'night."

"Night."

And with that I fell asleep almost right away; the only thing keeping me somewhat awake being the familiar duo of golden orange orbs peeking over at me from the balcony above. Master Xehanort really _hadn't _left. Which means, he heard every little diss we threw at him. Even though we had saw him exit through the front door. But, it didn't surprise me all that much. Probably because I was sure that all the weirdos I had met that day were capable of almost anything. Even sneaking back in an old mansion to eavesdrop on a bunch of teenage boys to make sure that they wouldn't _dare _to insult him.

_Great. Now Mr. Clean is after us just because he decided to stay here and listen in._ I thought to myself with half an ounce of care due to the fingers of sleep gently pulling my eyelids down with its fingertips.

_Oh well._


	3. 1:1:3 Relieved

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep:Destiny's Recall~Ven's Story, Book 1, Chapter 3~

Note:Hello, my fellow readers/writers of . My note for this chapter is to thank you all for reading this far (and if you haven't, please go back to chapter 1 of Ven's story before I sic Master Xehanort on you, lol). And also, I am very excited to thank my second reviewer, Aqua Azul. I was very glad to about what she thought about my story so far. And another jolt of appreciation goes to ShinobiMatt, for giving not only one, but two reviews. I know that the last chapter was boring to the extremes, but I hope that you all will enjoy this more exciting addition. By the way, according to , Birth by Sleep, (the real game) will have a multiplayer cooperation section and you can level up and grow your own characters in, of course, armor that resembles pretty much TAV's. Anyways, please sit back and read the third chapter of Mr. Toshi's story.

P.S: I know I said in BBS:Zero that it would turn out to become quite depressing around or near the end of the story, but that was Terra's viewpoint. And I 'm sorry to say (or am I?) that Ven's will be even worse. I mean, who wouldn't be sad to figure out that your best friend was not who you really thought he/she was? I'm sure that's happened to everyone on the face of this planet, though.

~Eternal Symphonia~

Sunlight dug its fingernails into my eyeballs when I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking me as blandly as forgotten assignments at school could. Morning peeped into the windows that edged the perimeter of the dining room we were all in, letting the Sun in as well. I had just woken up from the smooth and gentle abyss of sleep, and wasn't too happy to be shaken out of it without warning. Due to this feeling of irritation in my chest, I rolled over on the floor to face whoever was waking me up to bite back at them, "I'm still tired, you know."

Instead of it being the brunette hero of mine, Terra, it was actually Aqua who had decided to bring me back into the real world. She tensed her hand a little bit on my collarbone when my face almost touched hers, her cheeks bruising into pink circles when this closeness was completely realized.

"Uh..." Before I could say anything she flung her hand off of me and backed up a few feet, her long fingernails pressed to her chin in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. I was just waking you up so that we could keep moving."

"Yeah, you've been sacked out for two more hours than we have, and it's almost noon. We should have left an hour ago."

I flashed a peer over at Terra as I noticed the outline of bottles inside his pants. Diagnosing the puzzled expression that lay on my face, he tapped them all in turn acknowledgedly and nodded, "Potions and ethers, since I'm not too good with magic."

Now I was really starting to believe that these two thieves of Ventus Toshi were hippie fairies or something. Magic? What, was their Keyblade also a wand? I'm sorry I keep dissing on their flaky ways and letting you know about it. But...magic?

"Like this." Before I could even see what Aqua was doing, she summoned her Keyblade and shot a fireball at me. No, seriously. Crimson flames came from the tip of her weapon and were hurtling towards me with alarming speed. I achieved almost missing it except for the little bit that hit the tip of my altitudinous spikes and started them on fire.

"Help me!" Screaming, I stop, dropped, and rolled my heart out. But to no avail, the smoldering towers of red got even bigger as they both watched me wail with fear. Even trying to pad it out with my hands didn't work, my hands having fire biting at them harshly like a rabid dog. I either had to let my hair burn all the way to my skull or get some water on it. But where in hell would I get water in this manor?

The smell of sweltering hair plugged my nostrils as my blondness was sizzling away. By now Aqua was standing in her usual position, crossed arms and a smile, and Terra was practically dying of laughter, enjoying the sight of my freaking out.

"Don't just stand there!" I yelled at them, but figured afterwards for certain that they weren't going to do anything about it unless my hair really started to burn badly. I had to do something myself, without their help. Without haste, I ran like the wind out the front door and hoped that the sudden rush of air would put it out. It finally did.

"Errrrr..." I grumbled, putting my hands on my knees and bending over to catch my breath. Terra and Aqua were still in the mansion cracking up about my oversensitiveness to a minuscule flame. The door was open, but so was the front gate that Aqua had opened up the night before. While they continued to laugh, I raced out of the yard and into the woods, obviously trying to escape so that they couldn't bring me to their cracker master..man, dude...whatever.

"Hey, he's getting away!" I heard Aqua announce loudly to Terra. Before long I heard the mansion's welcoming, ornate doors slam open as they both made their way out to catch me.

"Get...back here!" Terra howled out in fury. An image popped into my mind. And let me tell you, it wasn't pretty imagining the entire world of crap getting beaten out of me by him.

_I doubt he'd actually cripple you to death... _I reassured myself. But looking over my shoulder at Terra and realizing the intensity in his eyes wasn't really going to back my assumptions up.

Surrounding me were lengthly, dark brown soldiers with their heavy bows drooping down due to the harsh law of gravity. Birds fluttered about, back and forth from their nests with seeds lining their beaks, ready to drop them inside the waiting and impatient young throats that expectantly waited for food to rain down into their stomachs. Each time the parents swept by, they would dive bomb the chicks and leave behind a few thistle seeds and maybe a sunflower kernel or two. One of the duo eyed me with caution, then cawed a warning to stay away. I nodded at the robin to acknowledge that I understood perfectly. But, and this was the weird part, it actually nodded back. Really, Aqua should have let me get a few more hours, because I didn't think either normal me or birds would be able to see or do something like that.

Dirt shoveled into my mouth by handfuls when the crooked root of a tree nearby seemingly wrapped itself around my ankle and caused me to clumsily trip. All I could see at this level were two pairs of feet: two of the four belonging to Aqua, and the black and gold pair belonging to Terra.

The back of my shirt was clutched tightly as the latter plucked me up from the ground as if I was a grape from a vine. I swung back and forth as he stared hard into my face and slanted his eyes in anger. I knew what was coming next.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Heh..." I chuckled nervously, not knowing what was coming next. All at once weird things started to happen again. What weird things, you ask? First of all, the armor on Terra's whole left arm began to expand and..kind of grow upwards onto his collar, grasping onto any surface that existed on his body. Soon everything was covered on him. Head to toe. Now he had started to look like some medieval knight of some king, except that his armor also had a few futuristic elements mixed in. The only thing I could recognize was the guard on his left arm, but everything else was brand spanking new.

"What is that? A monkey suit, or something?" I chuckled at his new attire, but was stopped almost right away when the back of my shirt was gripped tighter, alluding to what the tone of his next statement would be.

"It's my space travel outfit and also a sign that I serve under a Keyblade Master. It's also to remember those who have..." He announced matter-of-factly, his blue eyes shining through the thick onyx visor that came out from the face of his helm. What I didn't get is why he didn't finish his words and stopped so abruptly.

"Then how come Aqua doesn't-"

The sound of metal grinding against metal screeched throughout my ear canals. I turned my head over to her and realized that she was wearing the same exact iron barrier that he was, with a slight few differences; they both had metallic "horns" on their heads, but while Terra's proudly stood straight up, Aqua's was the exact opposite, protruding straight downwards and pointing to the soil below. I thought that it might signify a little something for their personalities. Like, maybe Aqua's resembled her down to earth attributes and her acute dignity. Terra's probably mentioned his resilient, but also unyielding and vigorous manner of ways. Perhaps it also symbolized a little bit of his extreme stubbornness. I know that I haven't known him for even a week, but something just told me that he was determined to measure where he was and how to get his goals done and over with. Same thing with Aqua. For some reason, I could pick up on their traits without even knowing them. In fact, I had been able to do that with everyone I knew ever since I was technically "born". From early on I knew for certain that Dirk was susceptible to others' opinions and grudges. Like, Yamada's for instance? As I thought about the pair of Keyblade wielders even more, I conceived that their knight-like appearance was all too familiar. But I couldn't seem to latch my memory threads onto my mental image sewing machine. What _was_ it?

...

I still couldn't come up with anything, even though I knew that it was a recent event where I had seen their outfits before. I'm sure everyone is like this, but that was another thing I absolutely despised: not being able to remember something. Once again it was because I hated not being able to recollect my past like almost everything else.

"Done gawking?" Aqua asked me from behind while I thought about the two.

"I guess so. I'm just surprised, that's all." I admitted to them, but opened my mouth again to close it off with another declaration, "Though, I shouldn't be after all of what has happened in the past two days..."

"Like finding out that you've been wanted by two flaky apprentices and their kooky master?" Terra butted in. I think for the first time during our whole story he had finally lightened up and cracked a joke. I know this is weird, but I was starting to kind of like these two. At least, they seemed like someone that I could be best friends with...I don't know. I always have little tender bouts of happiness like this. If you can, spare me the making fun of and just ignore it whenever I mention anything that makes you turn around and look at me like I've just sprouted tentacles out of my ears.

As the aforementioned couple (not romantically. Well, at least I _hoped_ Aqua didn't have a boyfriend) strode away in their full armor, I cupped my hands around my mouth and announced my "opinion" on the matter:

"Not really, since _everyone _wants me!"

All I got for a response was a face that I knew for certain was aghast and another that I imagined held a raised eyebrow. And I'm sure you know which face belonged to who. Aqua and Terra both cranked their necks back at me and stared. As I was being flooded with uncomfortable scrutiny all I seemed to manage was a devious beam directed at both.

Terra scoffed and Aqua giggled. Rays of joy burst through my heart like a firefighter's hose barreling into a rising flame when I saw that grin through her helmet. It made me...shiver with bright feelings, I guess you say. While they both recoiled at my stupid outburst of silliness, I was able to admire her even more. Aqua observed my out-of-place delight and was puzzled as to why my attitude that was so apparent last night had disappeared. I noticed this attention almost right away and I winked at her, each side of my grin extending to the bottom corners of my ears. Another giggle slipped past her lips when she saw this act.

"You are the weirdest kid I have ever met, Ventus." Terra stated with a friendly snicker. It wasn't a snide or mean comment, just a hearty insult that was meant to be either taken lightly or not taken at all. Really, all it did was make me remember my dream that I had had last night before they took me on the clock tower, actually making me glad.

"_Good work, kiddo. I can see quite easily that you have great potential. He'll be enthralled to hear about it. Well, goodbye. I'm gonna miss the weirdest kid that's ever been here." _

His words echoed through my head over and over again. What exactly did he mean when he said that "he" would be enthralled to hear about it? Who was the person excited to hear about my supposed strength?

"Okay, we're leaving." Terra did the usual toss me over his shoulder and let my arms dangle like chains over a cell wall thing.

"Could you at least let me actually walk _myself_?"

"Nope. You don't have a Keyblade to even ride on."

A little flicker of unbelieving flared up in my heart as the two stared at me with these little serious looks on their faces. I'm sorry, but riding on a giant key in armor to find some mystical castle in hell knows where? I take back all that stuff I ridiculed before; this _definitely _took the sweet, sugary cake of weirdness. Don't forget the millions of sprinkles on top. Also, don't forget to deliver it by riding on your man-sized key to the party of the crazy "keyboarders" and "Master Loonyma".

Terra instantly dropped me carelessly when he noticed me trying to hold back the hysterical screams of mockery, my shoulders heaving up and down and my hand raised up to my lips. My head hit the very top of an enormous rock that was right below us.

"Ow! What'd you drop me for?" I demanded, my skull aching from the sudden impact.

"For being an ass." As this "comment" sunk into my ears and sat there cozily for a while, electricity began to crackle around Terra's hand. Particles the hues of amber, gold, and metallic blue surrounded his outstretched fingers and spun rapidly. All of my previous predicament was forgotten as my eyes watched the light show of glow, almost entrancing me.

The first thing I noticed about what came out of his right palm was the six prongs that stuck out on each side of the blade, three on the right and three on the left. They were all different sizes, but the ones on the left seemed to be a bit longer. On top of these was a thin, rounded head that was showing a depiction of a rising sun. Each spike of light was a lighter color than the indentations between. Connecting this all to the handle was a sturdy rod of obsidian that was edged on either side with a thick bar of copper metal. Both sides were ridged and had little diagonal "slits" on each side, their number adding up to twelve with six per. The bottom of this part slanted down and outwards, giving a little space between it and the cerulean handle that would match up perfectly if they were put together, kind of like a puzzle. A bar that resembled the rod of the blade served as the part where you'd place your hand, and was straight in the middle of the two hand guards. Speaking of the guards, they both, as I said before, were strictly electric blue and somewhat reminded me of two metal wings, each of their bottoms bending out and splitting into two, equaling four in all. At the absolute bottom of this whole blade was a small circular cut through the whole thing, and hanging out of it was a golden chain that held a minuscule sun.

Terra forced the heavy sword over his shoulder and made it take my place. Compared to him it was absolutely _huge_.

"My Keyblade," He paused to look at my strange facial expression. "It's name is _Eternal Horizons_."

_Well, at least it's not as bad as Divided Fate._ I reminded myself. I actually kind of liked his Keyblade and its title. Speaking of which, he set it down on the forest floor and placed his foot on it triumphantly and turned his head towards me.

"Watch and learn, kiddo."

It began to grind and change shape, almost hitting me when the two sides guarding the black rod shot out and turned into giant, tarnished, bronze wings. After the handle had mutated into some kind of rocket booster, cobalt fire began to shoot out of the back. If it wasn't for Terra's solidly planted foot, it would have flown away and struck the building of the mansion. Aqua did the exact same with hers and soon both of their Keyblades had transformed into skateboard-like rockets. At the same time it looked cool, and also really cheesy. I didn't know whether to glare in awe or laugh.

Once again I was placed, hanging, over Terra's broad shoulder. I was going to ask whether I could just hold on to him and hope that I didn't fall off, but he leaped onto his Keyblade in unison with Aqua before I could. And let me tell you, I was pretty scared for what was going to happen next.

Without warning we all shot off into the sky, everything turning into blurs and streaks of orange, white, and copper. Well, at least what I could see through the golden spikes that were flying in front of my face, back and forth, to and fro. Puffy clouds that reminded me of popcorn oozed past us as we barreled through.

I wasn't scared at all at the fact that we were breaking the layers of the atmosphere. You know when you're at an amusement park and you're climbing the hill on a roller coaster before dropping to the ground? Yeah, it was like that. Rising to the climax before steadily lowering to the Earth.

Twilight Town glistened below like a diamond in the rough. The Sun was rising over the horizon and splattering crimson across the sky like it was an artist throwing paint across a plain canvas to make it a little bit more interesting. Vague hints of premonition blared like neon signs in my head; Terra and Aqua were doing the exact same with me: giving me splashes of color to heighten my dull life. Topaz for joy, green for interestingness, blue for amazement, scarlet for power, lavender for spiritual happiness, tangerine for enthusiasm, snow for purity, and onyx for mystery. Before I thought that I was unlucky to have been taken by them, but now I knew that I was actually glad. Right there and then I began to wonder if this was the start of a new story that would lead to the path of heroism.

Even within the few minutes we had been traveling, we began to leave the world behind. Since Terra was the one faced forwards I didn't have to crank my head around for once. It confused me at first, not being able to see the swirled clouds and washes of navy of the Earth below. Truthfully I could capture only the image of Twilight Town and nothing else, the clock tower being the most noticeable thing about the sphere. That was certainly strange...

"Hey, Terra?" I asked quietly so that only he could hear.

"Yes?"

"How come I can breathe out here in space? Isn't there supposed to be no oxygen at all? And how far away is this...'Castle Celest' of yours? And who's Master Lumin-"

Terra shook his head after my bombard of questions, telling me that he wasn't willing to answer them. Then, he poked at his mutated Keyblade and looked back at me, motioning the air current around us. All in all, it meant that he was too busy concentrating on flying to focus on my inquiries.

I turned my head away with a little frustration. Since he thought he was so _great, _then it should have been a piece of cake for him to multi task while 'keyboarding', or whatever it was called.

_I have the _right _to know.._While whining to myself, I failed to notice the measureless void around us. Instead of being a black and empty realm it actually was kind of beautiful. At least I thought so. The backdrop consisted of many of hundreds of thousands of points of light. And they weren't just plain white like the stars back in Twilight Town seemed to be; they actually glistened with many colors. A few intergalactic clouds of nebulae stretched across the expanse and shone proudly their swathes of light.

"Watch out!" yelled Aqua. A n enormous, cheese-like holed asteroid was shooting straight towards Terra and I. Aqua had already dodged it and must've assumed that Terra would have done the same.

"Holy...SHIT!" The loudest cuss I have ever heard from anyone blasted from my captor's throat as he turned his head to realize that it was about to be met with a brown rock the size of a tennis court. At the very last minute he swerved and managed to avoid impact, but only by an inch; the very tip of his owl-like "ears" screeched as they scored marks across it, sparking from friction. He became unbalanced and tottered on one of his feet, his arms propelling empty space.

He fell completely off.

Instant reaction eclipsed my body as I twisted my feet around the thin, middle section of his Keyblade and I let myself fall, while still holding on, to reach for his wrist. I almost didn't make it in time, but was able to wrap my desperate fingers around his metal-covered hand due to my sudden increase in speed. Time slowed as he was suspended there, still thinking that no one had jumped to the rescue. But when he felt the pause in his drop he unclenched his eyes apart and stared upwards with an expression of unbelief. Every part on his body fell limp except for his hand, which was still clutching onto my own for dear life. I tugged upwards on his arm and heaved as hard as I could. Thanks to my nicely sized muscles, I could not even get him up past my elbows.

"Maybe this will work instead: hang on as tight as you can." He ordered. My heartbeat raced when he prepared to lunge, which I had thought was almost impossible when only hanging by one hand. It was as if there was a spring underneath him, for when he leaped towards the bow of the Keyblade the only hard part was making sure he caught the edge. I closed my eyes and tried not to see anything. Lucky for me, I didn't have to be afraid of anything. Terra had climbed back on the little "ship" and was grasping my ankles in order to pull me back up. And when I finally did make it back up there I was thrown back over his shoulder. This time I didn't protest because I was too glad that I had saved both of us from floating endlessly like a forgotten cheerio in a cereal bowl.

Terra flashed his attention over at Aqua once he had reclaimed his position on top of his morphed Keyblade, "Why didn't you tell me about that asteroid _before_ it nearly killed us!?"

Aqua flinched at his raised voice, but wasn't afraid to defend herself, "Maybe if you would have paid any attention to where you were going, I wouldn't have had to. That, and if you _did_ know about it you would have scoffed and got mad at me for thinking you didn't."

All Terra did to reply was spit and murmur, while regaining his focus on flying. No more words were flung in between the two, though I could still fell the tension crackling like lightning around our atmosphere. Usually I would have told Terra that it wasn't his friend's fault that he had been too occupied with something else while the asteroid was flying towards him, but I was too afraid to in the event that he decided to "accidentally" let me slip off of his collar.

We rode on in a drowsy lull; all of us were exhausted from the previous week and weren't exactly enjoying what destiny had decided to toss at us. For me it was Dirk's betrayal, the stressful last week of school, my bruises received from Drennin, my kidnapping, Master Xehanort's stalker behavior, and finally, the amount of thought I put into what was going to happen next. What did Terra and Aqua's master really want with me, some teenage kid with spiky blond hair who was teased on a day to day basis? I remembered that, back on the clock tower in Twilight Town, Terra had slipped out something about a strong heart. But me? A strong heart? If anything, I had the exact opposite of a "strong heart" since I had been dissed on continually over the two-year period of time I had remembered anything.

At last I had harvested enough thought to ask something that would lead them away from their feuding.

"So, your master wanted me because of what?"

"Supposedly you own a very powerful existence." My hero was going to say something, but Aqua answered before her fellow apprentice could open his mouth all the way.

"And," The previously interrupted teen Terra shot a look of impatience over at Aqua before finishing. "That could be dangerous if an Unverse found you when you weren't in the most wonderful mood."

My eyes widened to the size of basketballs. There was another similarity between Terra and Aqua, and my recent dream. Now I had just found out that it wasn't only Keyblades that the two referenced, but also the Unversed. It must not have been mere coincidence. These two major things in my recent life were inevitably tied together by an unseen chain of fate. Though, it's pretty weird to think about it. A dream having to do with future events and friends-I mean, _people _that I would meet.

Please forget the friend part I mentioned. I accidentally used that word _instead _of people. Terra, Aqua, and I best buds? Can you even imagine such a thing?

A few more giant space boulders drifted lazily past, too far away to even be a bother. Another cloud of gas, a nebula, appeared in front of us. It seemed like a cluster of solid, brown fingers reaching towards the sky above, but I knew better than to think you could have stood on it. You'd fall right through, since it was only a gathering of interstellar gas that churned out the stars. That was what nebulae were: baby star factories that glowed brightly. I could tell you why they did, but I never paid attention to that part of astronomy. Personally, I think it ruined its mystifying appearance, trying to explain such a wonderful happening in boring words. But this nebula was a specific one: it was called the Eagle Nebula, otherwise known as the "Fingers of Creation". Once again, sorry if I just killed your attention cells and totally murdered your brains with dullness. And the only reason why I can relate to you and apologize is because I know that, myself, I hate boring and stupid things that waste my time. But yet, I still tell and explain such to all that could be considered the same as those stories that older people give out where you really don't want to hear them, but only because you're not sure whether you're going to benefit from it. What I'm trying to say is, I guess, that I understand that if, throughout the story of my life with Terra and Aqua, also known as Birth by Sleep, you really don't care about what I like, that's okay, because I can understand perfectly why. And the only reason why I tell you anyways is if people like you who are still reading this paragraph and haven't skipped ahead, though really wanting to, listen anyways because they know they'd want to be heard as well. Why am I talking to you so personally? Because this is the tale of my destiny, and I want you be able to understand how I felt throughout it all by being able to connect. And that starts with _actually _conversing to others.

Terra swerved around another nicely sized boulder and sent a thumbs-up back to me after noticing my flinch of fear.

"Trust me, we're not going to run into one of those huge asteroids again. Ones that big are pretty rare." Terra reassured. All I did to reply was nod to let him know that I had been somewhat convinced, but not completely since I was still shaking and feeling goosebumps crawl like spiders down my spine.

A few more asteroids flew past, spinning and twisting in the space air.

I didn't know how long I had been asleep, or how I even could've fallen asleep, but the next thing I knew was that my eyes were opening slowly to find a spherical globe littered with the colors of sapphire and amethyst, almost empty except for a humble little city and a castle spanning over a half of the whole world.

"What is that?" I asked with my eyes widened in amazement.

All I heard from them was one word put together in unison, "Home."

The very first thing I saw in this realm after breaking its atmosphere was the sheer cliff walls that were almost everywhere except where civilization seemed to lie. But even then, a few mountains with purple tops and blue sides rose out of the earth. Streams cut through the layers of rock as if they were traveling pairs of scissors, harboring many flowers on all of their edges, cuddled together among few trees and blades of lime grass. A lot of these rivers were sourced from waterfalls that were practically littered everywhere. Instead of tumbling down, though, a few of them actually defied gravity and...rose. All of these natural elements were accented by a taste of silky moonlight that had been cast down from above.

I assumed that since where we were headed was named Castle Celest, the sinuous, medieval structure consisting of pure obsidian blocks and many towers was probably it. Within almost every nook and cranny that existed on the face of the fortress there seemed to be at least one stained glass window brilliantly casting off glows of rainbow and light onto the grounds nestled next to it. On each side of the castle, there was only a single window big enough to be admired by many people at the same time; these ornate, intricate designs could be seen from miles away due to the candles inside that burned intensely. I couldn't really make out the story they told because of our angle at the time, though.

Now we were below the lush tips of the trees and heading straight for the very front of the stronghold. The castle reacted to our arriving by letting its wooden drawbridge drop. While this procedure slowly happened by each chain link slipping past the suspension cables, Terra and Aqua descended to the ground, our hair being tossed about by the air that blew out of the now opening citadel. I lifted my nose into the space above me and basked in the fresh smells, each revealing pictures in my mind's eye. Luxurious, bountiful banquets of food, a library filled to its seams with many old books containing vast amounts of knowledge, people with strange outfits rushing about, an interior garden seeping with pungent flowers, a grand hall lined side to side with thrones and tapestries representing each and every one sitting in those exact seats, golden halls lined with rows upon rows of white wax candles. All of this added up to what I thought matched a place meant for royalty; certainly not some crappy circus filled with ringmasters and their chums.

Finally the mouth of the palace had created a bridge over the river etching the boundaries of its grounds, leading my two captors to be able to fly right inside while riding their Keyblades.

The interior was bursting with bustling people, all rushing about and enjoying what I assumed to be their time off for the day. Terra and Aqua said that they were apprentices, right? That must have meant that they worked their butts off all day trying to please Master Lumina and his wishes. So, when else would all of these, apprentices, I guessed, have a slot of free time to enjoy the company of each other? Probably at night.

All of the residents of the castle cranked their heads up at our trio and shot a few mixed responses to my presence. A fixated stare of surprise here and there,a little smirk of amusement, and maybe a bit of "Wow, who cares?" attitudes. Many more of these were tossed at me when I decided to grin mischievously and wave at all of them. Actually, some of them waved their hands back and forth in unison. Judging my surroundings, Terra, Aqua, and I were the only ones airborne. The rest were all scurrying around on the cream cobblestone floor of the main hall, which seemed it could have fit the Titanic itself in it. I guess it wouldn't be out of place in here though, being submerged by the thousands of kids ranging from nine to twenty seven. The walls were split into two colors that were quite....clashing? The wall on the right matched perfectly with the outside walls and shone with an onyx glint due to the candles guarding it. Holding the wax sticks up on this side was a long, orchid ledge with many silver designs and shapes littering it; some stars here and there, a swirl of wind rushing through in a few parts. But this somewhat beautiful arrangement was absolutely nothing compared to the opposite side. The left part of the hall was a blinding, snowy white cascade of color with candles lined up on a ledge adorned with a light tangerine color. As with the "dark" side of the hall, there were swirls and designs smothering the side of the ledge facing the middle of the room, but in a coppery tinted gold. The ceiling also had drawings and murals concealing the paint underneath, each having its respectful side, of course, one dark and one light. Chandeliers with their bows of gold had ages of the candles burning atop them covering every inch. It was absolutely glorious...the whole hall, I mean. This gathering place must have been the very core of the castle and was almost constantly inhabited by the thousands of personnel that lived here. As said before, there were tons upon tons of apprentices in the weirdest clothing I've ever seen, but there must have been twice the amount of them serving as maids, guards, and other help that probably lived to benefit the society of Keyblade wielders here. The murals were now quite apparent, all four of them depicting very different things. But before I could really take them into detail, Aqua and Terra flew through the door opposing the one we came through first.

The next area was a long hall that also held two sides of color scheme with portraits of people on each. I noticed that the more gloomy side held the disturbing and evil looking ones. Candelabras of gold and silver stood proudly on each of their respective sides, the flame they held flickering at the air above them, casting an uncanny shine upon the frames.

"Where are we?" I asked while we glided smoothly over the blood hued carpet below.

"The Bridge of Wielders Past. It pretty much is a place to showcase the past representatives of darkness and light Keyblade Masters up until now. At the end we'll see a portrait of the two new Keyblade Masters who are the embodiments of shadow and light."

"Would Master Xehanort be on the creepy side?" I chuckled a question at them. My brow began to ache from Terra's hand slap impacting my forehead. But I was right: the second to last picture on the dark side depicted Xehanort with a solemn expression lining the folds of his face. His eyes were also still the same eerie amber color that had watched me from the bushes and trees of Twilight Town.

Yet again, another hall awaited us through the end door of the Bridge of Wielders Past. But instead of being long and thin, this one stretched side to side horizontally with a peach and rose scheme of color. Nothing was in this way except for the huge porcelain entrance directly in front of where we just came out of. And, I also forgot to mention _exactly _how long that this lobby was: judging from what I've seen throughout my two-year "life", it must have been the length of...probably the length of how long Stride gum keeps its flavor. No, I'm just joking. A football field, or two? Maybe even three. Anyways, across the whole area there were countless, plain, wooden doors made of cherry plywood. Except at the ends where two stained glass doors led out into two separate gardens, that was it.

Since we were on the little "go through the door facing the one you came in every time you see a new room" routine, we inevitably floated through the toilet material, porcelain one.

The next hall was pretty much the same with tons of doors all lined up against each other. It even had an access to the next part of the shining fortress that seemed to be exactly the same as the last one. We, of course, blasted through and stumbled upon the only amazing area since the main hall.

In my opinion, it was the most awesome portion that existed yet. For once it wasn't an exceedingly lasting, boring, or boxy at all. This circular room held absolutely no candles or chandeliers, but only a fountain big enough to bathe an elephant in. It trickled as softly as petals drifting onto satin could and set a calmer mood echoing into the area than the main hall did. Once again there were four murals emitting the moonlight from the outside world, setting a quadruple amount of colored maps on the slate floor. This space let off an air of eternal silence, as if it was a place to mourn for the dead. At least at night, it did. I wasn't too sure about what it looked like at day. Probably a lighter atmosphere at that time.

Terra and Aqua let their "Keyboards" lower to the ground. Once they had stepped off of them, their armor instantly receded into the shoulder guards that were prominent on their regular attire. Instead of bending over to pick the Keyblade up like Terra did, Aqua just reached her arm out and summoned it again. Terra put me down onto my own two feet when I had persisted for him to do so. Both of their faces were solemn as they both stared into my own. While under this uncomfortable scrutiny I managed only to crack a grin at them. Aqua smiled back when my actions broke the layer of austere glass. Terra only folded his arms over one another.

I looked around at my surroundings, particularly interested in investigating the depictions on the murals. I didn't know why the murals poking at me so much. For some reason I just wanted to see what they had to show.

Though I could tell all of them pretty much had separate meanings to each, they all melded together by thick, solid black lines that ran straight up and down at the four different directions: northeast, southeast, southwest, and finally northwest, all being represented by four more doors at each spot, one more of course leading to the next room at north. At the northeast end lay an entrance garnished with many silver swirls and stars set against a white background. In every corner were a set pair of wings spread across a space about two inches wide. Around the door and above was of course the portrayal that seemed to match the same exact theme. The representation showcased a beautiful scene of a cliff overlooking a cerulean sea. Tall, long grass swayed in the breeze like raving people in a concert, their fingertips raised to praise the sky above. Speaking of which, it held many clouds set like marshmallows puffing about in the air. An eagle soared high above with its feathers turning into bronze strands due to the point of light hanging above. The waves that lay in the ocean were brisk ripples of curved blue, the currents of air stroking them as if they were little pets. Seagulls floated just above the horizon, some with their beaks open and cawing for a fish to jump out of the water.

Truly, this mural was the most relaxing depiction yet. And, it was also the one I really could call familiar and welcoming. That place within the picture was what I would describe as my perfect paradise, if ever asked to.

Below that at the southeast direction was a door that held images of white stars and little silver fish swimming against a teal backdrop. Once again, every corner of the rectangle was home to a little symbol, which actually looked like mini crescent moons of azure.

The mural above seemed pretty lame to me. Well, not lame, so to speak, but a little weird and too calm? If there even is such a thing as "too calm". A coral reef sparkled at the bottom with all the colors of the rainbow dotted here and there. Little fish swam about, nibbling at a random rock or staring off into an abyss of space, as fish always do. In the scene behind all this dazzle was a sunken ship draped with underwater lichen and lifeforms. As with the mural in the northeast part of this room, the Sun beat down from above, but this time only a little bit due to the length it traveled through the water.

On the other side of this room were the northwest and southwest counterparts of the whole piece.

Southwest held a door boasting a crest of orange flame and golden stars everywhere. In the back it was just plain red. Every corner held a symbol representing the Sun, each little circle of yellow covered with wavy points protruding out to act as the light being cast in all directions. This picture was of a desert grounded by waves of tan sand and countless boulders. Snakes slithered about, basking in the direct sunlight beating down on their backs like bricks. Vultures crowded in the pale blue sky above, looking down to finding a possible morsel. Cactus and dead weeds were dispersed far apart, and mountains lined together in the back.

Last but not least, the northwest door was jade green with blue stars and lime foliage masking the most of it. In every corner of the door was a small tree in the color of olive. An admirable scene was set behind the entrance, displaying a forest filled to the brim with pine, aspen, birch, and especially oak. All of these previously mentioned trees criss-crossed the background, leaning either to and fro, or straight up and down. An aged tree that seemed to be an oak left its boughs to droop over a minuscule stream while pure white flowers crowded around the edge, hugging the water's boundaries like the people who crammed around me when I was passed out the very day my memories started to pool inside my head. Unlike the other three murals, this one actually was under the light of the moon instead of the Sun. This one was second best in my head, since it seemed the most serene.

"Amazed?" Terra butted into my round of admirations. My attention flared from the pictures to his face, and seeing the the feeling that I felt in his eyes caused me to nod.

"This room is the centerpiece of the apprentices assigned to more powerful masters dorms. Each door leads to a huge house meant for the lucky four who are privileged enough to be training under either the current Master of Darkness or the current Master of Light. Aqua and I are both the underlings of the Master of Light, Master Lumina, and because of this we both own one." Terra explained. I glanced at Aqua for reassurance of his statement, and she nodded with her eyes closed.

A question popped into my head and subsequently shot out of my mouth before I gave it thought.

"Why only four?"

"The rules set down by the founders specifically stated that no more than four could become apprentices to the higher up. Probably because it'd be too much to have so many knowledgeable of the leaders' ways."

I was going to ask something again, but I stopped myself beforehand. I was sure that the more information I received, the more confused I was going to be by the time I got out of this place. I mean, _if _I ever got out of this place.

All of the recent events and scenes I had witnessed were swirling around in my brain's corridors of thought. My heart pulsed with excitement, but also a little nausea. I started to feel homesick and longed desperately to see the sunset of Twilight Town once again. Or to at least let my feet dangle over the edge of the clock tower with Sea-Salt Ice Cream dripping onto my fingers. I closed my blue eyes and imagined sitting on top of Sunset Hill, watching the trains go to and fro to pass the time. A stirring of bliss began to tickle at my heartstrings. I sat there, enjoying watching movies of my explorations of the nooks and crannies of the vast city with Dirk, breaking free from the chains of his betrayal. Those were the times when everything was going great and I had absolutely no worries at all. That was the time when I was able to fly free whenever I felt like it. But now I had been whisked away to another world along with two strangers carrying me to the inner depths of their castle to be examined by their supposed master. The realization of this change of fate sunk into my heart farther and brought my quaint remembrances to an end.

"What's wrong?" Aqua asked in concern after seeing my delighted expression turn into a somber one. This way of acting was very different from when we were atop the clock tower of Twilight Town. Then she had acted like a..sorry to say..bitch. But now she was asking me why I had begun to feel so horrible. Meaning, she actually seemed to care.

"It's nothing." I lied with regret, my head lowering to face the ground below.

Terra rested his palm on my right shoulder while facing me. I jerked my head up to meet a pair of eyes the same color as mine. Through them, he seemed to send reassurance to my soul, eventually leading me to a more calm attitude.

"You'll be fine. No matter what happens, everything will turn out the way it's supposed to."

I tilted my head a few times to acknowledge that I heard him clearly.

After escorting me through the door to the next corridor, Terra and Aqua instantly let go of my arms and descended to the floor, kneeling with their heads bowed in respect. A line of two thrones were erect and standing tall in front of us, backed by many tapestries and sagging throws of color. Each seat held a color scheme: the one on the left adorned with gold and white, and the one on the right differenced by its silver and black attributes. Once again this castle held two depictions of Darkness and Light. Behind each cushioned throne lay the previously mentioned stretches of satiny cloth and banners. A huge crescent moon about ten feet tall stood on the obsidian wall behind the darker throne, glowing with even more silver. And opposing it behind the the other, lighter throne lay a golden Sun. The sides of this hall were divided into halves, each siding with their respective symbol. White walls and luxurious golden, plush carpet, along with suspended chandeliers that matched the Sun on the wall belonging to the left, while black walls and glossy silver carpet with, once again, matching chandeliers on the right. Pillars supported the ceilings of both sides and also served as interveners between every single stained glass window. Two doors loomed on either side as well, acting as the entries into the dorms of the two who belonged on the thrones. Based on everything I had seen in Castle Celest, it was decorated by someone with a thing for the number four, two, stained glass, and symbolic murals.

But the most striking addition to this room was probably the grumpy old coot resembling Mr. Clean sitting comfortably in the throne to the right.

His amber eyes flickered at the sight of our trio, letting out an aura of interest. He lifted his head off of his fist and raised to allow him to inspect us more carefully.

His voice cracked from not being used for so long before he managed to bark a question to us, "What brings you three here?"

"Master Xehanort, we have brought the boy that our master had requested," Terra paused to clear his throat and to look up. "Do you have any idea of where we may present Ventus Toshi to him? It seems that he is not here."

"Ventus...Toshi, huh?" For some reason his eyes held a tint of fear within them, but it all went away before he continued, "If I am correct, your first name means Wind in Latin, and your last represents "Mirror Image" in Japanese, right?"

I stuttered from not knowing what to answer back. Instead of muttering a "Yes", I just lowered my head and nodded.

"Anyways," Xehanort returned his menacing stare to Terra and Aqua. "Master Lumina is out on business and will not return until tomorrow. He told me that, should you two return with the requested person at the time of his absence, that I should relieve you to your dorms and allow Ventus to stay in the House of Wind."

They both got up abruptly and nodded quickly, grabbing me by my underarms and practically skipping back to the room before. Maybe this was one of the first times they had ever gotten a break from apprentice duties and weren't planning on wasting it too easily.

Within the next few minutes I had been introduced to the "House of Wind" by Aqua and Terra, which was actually led to by the first door I had admired upon entering the room. They told me that it was wise to retire to the bedroom before racing off to the main hall, ready to chat their asses off to the other apprentices. But that didn't matter to me that I had been abandoned. I didn't even gawk at the layout and grandeur that the mansion-sized dorm held, but I only cared on bringing my aching feet to peace by finding the nice bed that awaited for me. After finding my way around, I finally managed to stumble upon the bedroom. I practically dove for the bed and almost instantly fell asleep. But even as I fell into the blindfolds of unconsciousness, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next. What did Master Lumina want with me? Why did that geezer eye me up with a hint of fear today? And finally, where were the shackles of destiny leading me to? I could only hope to answer these questions, the third still nagging at me the most. But exhaustion took over and I drifted once again into the welcoming province of slumber without even one care in the world what was going to happen the next day. Truly, I fell into a realm of long awaited, sweet, and gentle bliss.


	4. 1:1:4 Towards Destiny

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep:Destiny's Recall~Ven's Story, Book 1, Chapter 4~Towards Destiny~

Le Note:Hello, my fellow wanderers of fanfiction. Today I bring to you chapter four of Ventus's first book. But first, I have to thank my nice reviewers before then. First up is Aqua Azul, who gave me her opinion almost an hour after I submitted chapter three, which made me very excited. Secondly is ShinobiMatt's very much appreciated feedback. Especially when he told me that he noticed the Aqua/Ven shipping. Lol, thank you.

Last but not least was NinjaLuffer1215. Thank you for your wonderful support. I really do read your reviews and utilize them to push me harder to update as soon as possible.

The bringer of the hero of hillbilly proportions, the "exotic"( quote on quote from some guy on KHInsider, lol) blue haired girl, Geezernort, and porcupine,

~Eternal Symphonia~

A dim light etched its cold rays into my sight as if it was a snowy crowbar prying my eyes open to peek in. My aforementioned windows into the world around me fluttered open to find myself laying comfortably on the sterling silver, lead, and angelic white wrapped bed that I had easily slunk into the evening before without a care in the world, except to get some shut-eye. The frame of it trembled ever so slightly when I tossed over onto my right side to face the shining star and moon encrusted door leading out of my room, which was also adorned with the familiar colors of white and blue.

An uncomfortable sensation eclipsed my body when I realized that I was soaking head to toe in disgusting sweat, the clothes I was wearing drenched completely. Droplets cascaded down my forehead and it seemed, to me at least, that I was peering out of a window to recognize a scene of a thunderstorm unfolding outside. I rubbed my index fingers from the corners of my eyes to my cheekbones and watched the room around me blare with color, inviting the lids of my vision to drift open a little more. For the first time since my visit to Castle Celest, I had finally been able to admire the area of the so-called "House of Wind".

The king-sized bed I previously explained was backed up by a rounded wall that had been etched to the brim with morning glory blue and sparkling silver swirls representing drafts of the breeze. The whole room was a giant circle about the size of my room back at home times two. Smothering the floor was a plush layer of silky white carpet, which, due to its inviting, soft look, I wasn't afraid to plant my feet into the folds of comfort. Even through my bulky black and red shoes I could sense the amount of impressibility it contained. Facing the bed I sat on was a thin hallway about two feet long leading to a small deck. Without thinking about it I got up and paced through the hallway that matched my bedroom and enjoyed the feeling of oak wood supporting my feet. Once I got outside I flicked my head backwards to notice the two ornate doors that had been open since the previous night; they probably had existed to serve as a barrier between the cold of winter when Christmas rolled around. I curled my fingers around the tawny amber wooden railing that edged the semi-circular, minuscule deck, peering over the side to find a large garden below sprawling across a huge radius. Many people scurried about, but they all looked like little inch-worms from above. Instinctively I squinted through only one eye and pinched a few of them, one by one, sometimes able to catch two or three at the same time. I must have brought this habit from my adopted hometown. Every day after school and even on weekends, I would trudge over to the clock tower and do the same. I especially enjoyed it when a group of kids who picked on me managed to stroll by. Instead of having to get beaten up for facing up to them, I could just pretend to mush them between my thumb and pointer finger.

Tweeting echoed throughout my ear canals as bluebirds with their bronze red chests flew high above, catching their morning meal of insects on the currents of air. The early Sun sent his rays to warm their backs as they continued the usual routine of eating and floating through the empty space above.

Beyond the expanse of flowers and humans lay one of the many rivers surrounding the area, its banks harboring a comfy spot for long, lime grasses and wildflowers. Even from my high vantage point I could pick up on the wails of the mighty current of water below. A reddish fox peered up from the fields and let its ears stand at attention, obviously focusing on one exact spot. After a second or two it pounced, coming back up with a succulent mouse hanging limply from the strong jaws it owned.

Knocking on the railing ricocheted from behind me, interrupting my admiration of the landscape below.

"Having fun?" Terra asked in his usual tone, somewhat more alert than I had heard from him before. I turned around slowly to let my grin sink into his attention, and once he realized my good mood, he smiled back.

"It's almost time for you to present yourself to Master Lumina. And you'd better hurry: he doesn't enjoy it when people are late."

"Is that from past experience?" I questioned with a mischievous glint in my eye.

His smirk extended further as he replied sarcastically, "How'd ya guess?"

After that bit of conversation, Terra nodded and motioned for me to come over and follow him, four of his fingers waving back and forth like the waves of the ocean and his thumb sitting off to the side. I obliged and somewhat jogged after him with excitement twirling around my existence. We made our way through my predictably gray, silver, and blue dorm. While I glanced around nervously and took shuffling steps, Terra had his fists enclosed tightly together and was putting each foot forward confidently. His head was held high as mine was drooped and shifting about, colors flashing past us as we headed for, what I guessed, to be the throne room where Geezernort had lazed around in his velvet seat as the two apprentices who had taken me away from my home bowed unwillingly to his royal ass. The memory of seeing him again forced me to shudder; those amber eyes, _really _pointy ears that you could roast hot dogs on, that sickly colored tan skin, his weird outfit...They all added up to the sum of creepy, disturbing, unpleasant, eerie, and especially... Well, I know this sounds rude, but I'd probably call it hideous? You can't blame me for thinking that either, so don't start shooting insults about how I dissed on some old coot who has no defense against me. If it were my opinion, I would say that _he _was the one who would leave _me _defenseless with all that dark and disgusting evilness seeping out of every seam he had. But at least I could look forward to meeting the praised master of Terra and Aqua. Hopefully he wasn't as creepy as hell like Xehanort. But then again, no one could be. Master Baldinort definitely took the trophy titled, "Most scary person in the universe".

We met the circular gathering room that connected all of the four dorms into one intricate design of architecture. The fountain lay ahead of us, the water still glimmering from the bright lights that shone above. I watched in bedazzlement as my eyes in turn laid their feasting sight upon every single stream of glassy liquid. Due to the rounded, smooth white alcove hanging over the area, the sounds of trickling echoed across the way. All was absolutely quiet until the door of the ocean themed part of the wall slammed open with Aqua shooting out and over to us. Once she had met up with us, she began to stutter with a certain amount of fidget quivering within her voice.

"God," Aqua paused to fix her sapphire hair and take in a breath of air. "I thought I was going to be late."

"You know, you tell me that almost every day. And it sounds even more desperate on days when we're going to be training with Vanitas."

It slapped me hard in the face; Aqua had a thing for another guy and not me. Disheartening ran through my chest when I noticed that Terra was actually being serious about it, too. For some reason I had already developed a kind of affection for this girl, even though I had only met her about a day ago. Aqua's celestial blue eyes gleamed in fury as this comment sunk into her consciousness, forcing an impression of hatred for Terra at this moment. She opened her mouth to mention something, but couldn't find words to say because, frankly, she knew it was true.

The brown-haired teen next to me snickered, "Our little friend here has a crush on Master Xehanort's apprentice. She gets all snarly whenever I mention it."

"And I have reason to, probably because I have absolutely no clue where you got an idea like that."

"Well,_ I_ do. Every single time you see him you can't even _stop _seeing him; all you do is stare at his "luscious" and "silky" black outfit all day." Terra paused to nudge me with his elbow before continuing. "Blank stare, creepy outfit, disgusting breath-" He continued on, but I couldn't hear him over Aqua's protesting.

"That's not anything near what he's like-"

Terra interrupted while tapping each of his fingers in counting, "Impolite, obviously snobby, conceited, crooked brains, twisted and disturbing outfit, blah, blah, blah. You name it. Every single little thing that causes people to recoil in fear exists in the kid." It's kind of funny to admit it, but I was actually glad to hear that this Vanitas dude was undesirable. Unless Terra was lying just to get Aqua's goat, which wouldn't have surprised me at all. But truthfully, I wouldn't be ashamed to believe him either.

"Vanitas is nothing like that. You know he's actually an intelligent guy. Unlike you. If you were willing to listen to me, you'd know that he is a sweet and gentle boy whose appearance is just a little scary looking because he's on the side of Darkness. Nothing more. And at least he _brushes _his teeth, Terra."

The only thing that the mocking teenager next to me could do was start wailing in laughter. His shoulders shrugged up and down as he tried to hold it in in fear of Aqua's reaction, but soon he fell over and began to roll on the floor in hysteria. I stood there looking stupid with a puzzled frown on my face, my arms hanging limply on each of my sides. All I could do was to stare blandly at the pair as one flew across the glossy stone floor and the other yelled at him. When there was no reply from Terra, Aqua sighed and circled her eyes around their sockets in annoyance.

"I will never understand you..."

And with that Aqua stormed away in anger, a cloud of irritability wisping behind her like a trail of fury. Not knowing what else to do, I started to follow her with an uncomfortable heaviness blundering through my feet as if they were shackled to an iron chain of sickness. My stomach began to churn back and forth with fear and uncertainty like it was creating a soup made of worry. Instinctively my hand found its way to my belly and clenched it tightly in tension; another trickle of homesickness slithered through me like a winding, slimy snake, about to draw back its head to prepare the injection of poisonous longing. How my heart ached, sadly, only from a small image of my memories of back home. I never thought that I would miss what I previously took as the most dull place in the universe. Blazing sunsets, sticky fingers entwined with blue, the smell of food drifting into my nostrils, familiar chirping of the winged creatures from the forest, ringing bells of the clock tower, chattering of people below. Everything was turning into a turn for the worse in my eyes now, even meeting Terra and Aqua. I mean, was arguing what they did all the time? Did I really have to see Master Xehanort again? None of these things I was looking forward to. Couldn't I just go home and live my life without having to know that a place like this exists?

"Come on squirt, let's go meet our ringmaster." Terra came up behind me and pushed my back in a forwards motion, causing me to twist my ankle a little bit. Streams of pain vibrated up my leg as I stumbled, trying to find a way to catch my balance before I was forced to drop to the floor. Lucky for me, I was able to regain stability.

All I could do to reply to his rudeness was to snap, "What the hell was that for!? And why do you always call me 'squirt'? I'm not _that_ short."

He drifted past me like a wisp of wind, fleeting but yet still leaving a sensation of emotion behind. Then, just like that, he stopped before catching the closing door that Aqua had opened. Terra tilted his back just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the cerulean orbs that served as his eyes.

"Yes, you are."

Rage steamed out of my ears almost as if I was one of those cartoon characters everyone watched when they were little. Fingernails dug into my palms as I resisted the urge to scream at him in fury. But this hate was either unnoticed or ignored, for when I glanced back up to catch his expression he was strolling through the door slowly without waiting for me to catch up.

With a sigh I shook my head and continued after him with an apparent limp.

We met the door to the Throne Room again with the sprawling sides screaming "opposition" due to their clashing colors and themes. Darkness resided upon the right side while Light floated about the left. Last time I was here, I only managed to catch a peek at one of the two people who resided within their glorious chairs. Sadly, it was probably the more frightening of the two.

When I was able to let the people in the other room only see one of my blue eyes, I scanned through the slightly opened crack of the entrance. I noticed that there was the expected rival of Xehanort sitting in the other, navy and snow throne. His hair was either a really, really dark brown or black, but I could tell at least that much. The cut of his hair amounted to a simple style of a fanned-out ponytail, held back with what I assumed had to be either a piece of ribbon or a tie, but there was still some that he left out of the restraint. In the front was a wavy strand of hair backed up by two shorter and smoother ones while the back flowed down with a slight curve, a spikiness close to that of Terra's. His face was quite aged and chiseled, what with all the wrinkles embedded within it. But he didn't have nearly as many as Xehanort did. For the eyes, all he had were two bright, half closed celestial blue droplets that practically announced that he was kinder than most. They seemed to radiate with a particular light that only shone faintly within Terra and Aqua's. Was that because of the fact that they were only apprentices and only had power incomparable to his? Or maybe it was due to the amount of light in their hearts. Whatever that sensation of oceanic cobalt was, it sure was apparent in his eyes. Underneath this man's pure white and long (about to the length of his ankles), crimson trimmed coat lay a stretchy, navy, v-neck shirt that was almost identical to Terra's, except that it was inverted. As I mentioned before, the biggest part of it that encased his muscular chest was the blue, and the minuscule edges on his sides were obsidian. Another piece of this eccentric combination of samurai and warrior were the duo of sparkling silver straps that criss-crossed over his chest and back in an "x" shape, not even one inch unlike Terra and Aqua's except for the color. Covering the whole bottom half of this man were pants exactly like Terra's hakama, but were once again a different, this pair only having a single fold in the front instead of many sprawling ones. I couldn't see whether or not the way they were held up was in a similar way to his eldest apprentice because of the dark silver armor encasing his whole chest and pelvic area; it was made up of a metallic tunic with two sections, the bottom half being three pieces that resembled the tips of arrows with no stalk, so to speak, all pointing downwards to the earth below. The top part was an upwards arrow tip just stopping below the straps that blazed with the color of starlight. Connecting the whole armor piece was the same exact symbol that Terra and Aqua held on their outfits as a reminder of their alliance with him set against a backdrop of dark blue. He also owned some facial hair, nothing more than a neatly kept goatee on his chin and a mustache, though.

Water welled up in my eyes from staring too long without blinking even once. They stung even more when I closed them, sending streams of salty liquid down my cheeks and down onto the marble. I sniffled, still keeping an eye on the guy in the throne while rubbing my eyelids free of tears; if any of the four who were in the Throne Room saw me with water in my eyes, they'd probably ask me if I wanted a bottle with that, too. Terra and Aqua were hunched over in respective bows towards the two who reclined on the thrones, the girl seemingly nervous and the boy seemingly anxious. From my vantage point, I could see who I thought to be Master Lumina's eyes brighten, impossibly, even more when he recognized his students in front of him. Bright, white teeth sparkled in the early morning sunlight as he smiled warmly, his eyes closed tightly.

"Welcome, welcome, my apprentices," He greeted the two teenagers before Master Xehanort piped in, a scowl etching the outlines of his wretched face.

"About time you two came back. You're no more eager to get up from bed than a male ass in a mating barn filled to the brim with attractive females does." The elder accused quite vulgarly. After I had muttered an "ew" from behind the cracked open door, I wondered if any of the people in the next room had heard me. Well, I knew Terra did, since all he could manage to do for the next minute was try to not let Master Xehanort see his shoulders bouncing up and down along with his hand instantly slapping across his mouth to serve as a sound barrier. A few times he even let a chuckle out, but was silenced as soon as he glanced up to see a stern, "If you do not stop making fun of my previous statement I'm going to kill you" glare adorned with amber despise staring back at him from the one who mentioned the disgusting reference to donkeys and mating.

I snatched a look at Aqua to see her reaction, which surprised me. Instead of trying to hide her amusement like Terra was, she actually started to make disgusted faces as if in revolt of Xehanort's manner of insulting. Why wasn't she even cracking a grin? That's one thing I could never understand about girls: if confronted with something that was obviously perverted, most of them would look at whoever said it with their eyebrow raised. I mean, I know that _I _have caught a few giving me weird glances like I was some forty-year-old pedophile. Can't any of them take a dirty joke as just a _joke_? Isn't that why they call it that? It isn't meant to be taken all that seriously, and almost all of them thought I was a perverted old man like Master Geezernort. Do I look like _that _to you?

No, I'm not going to believe you even if you said "yes". No...just no. No one is as creepy as him. Not even me. Look, I may be ugly, or at least I think so, but no one could ever...I know I keep insulting him, but who wouldn't after being blinded with all that baldness and creepiness and pervertedness? I was actually beginning to wonder if he had ever hit on Aqua. Gross, I know, but he seems like the type.

"Xehanort..." Master Lumina warned with his fingers tapping expectantly on the arm of his chair. Seeing this act of impatience caused the crusty coot to start scoffing. Huff, huff, "I hate this", "I'm always discriminated for telling the truth", "I should be calling the shots", huff, puff, rawr, "I'm about to claw everyone's eyes out because I feel like it and I have a chip on my shoulder and you should just live with it".

You know, the only thing that I found unexpected about it was when Xehanort began to chew on his tongue like it was a pink piece of gum, motioning the blob of muscle in circles as if he was panting. Yep, he was gnawing on his tongue as he forced it in and out of his mouth in a circular path. I wasn't sure whether or not to mock him, give him a weird look, or burst out and cackle my ass off. Either way, I was sure that if Xehanort saw this act of ridicule I would be seeing flashes of old man, empty chair, old man in front of me, red, and then the floor. Almost like a comic book titled, "Creepy Old Guy vs. Defenseless Little Blond Kid". So I just kept quiet and continued to listen intently to keep from being given masses of infinite pain.

"Anyways," Master Lumina flashed a look of annoyance over at Xehanort before continuing.

"Where is the person I have requested you to find?"

Aqua answered, "Master, what do you mean? We just brought him in and he should be-"

"Where'd he go?" Terra suddenly asked after looking around, following Aqua's lead. They all, including Xehanort, searched across the vast expanse around them to see my position.

Twisting the black and white rings on my left pointer and middle finger calmed the nervousness pooling up in the depths of my heart like cold and clammy silly putty as I tenderly took one step into the room. But as I was going through the doorway, the door started to creak like it was moaning. This forced all heads to turn my way.

I felt like I had cat ears, or something like that when all eyes were devouring my appearance in nibbles, sure taking their splendid time. I hated being scrutinized like that, analyzed as if I were some experiment or some kind of monster. And I'm sure you know which of the stares I loathed the most; for a while there all he did was unblinkingly set his sight on my existence and practically drooled all over the carpet below him; if he got up I wouldn't have been surprised if he slipped and his rear met the floor.

_What about me is so intriguing to him? Maybe it's the strange fact that my hair can stay up the way it is without hair gel. _I pondered to myself with a tad bit of humor at the end. But seriously, the hideous amber glare of fixation was getting really old...and probably a little annoying. Out of spite I widened my gaze purposely and tilted my head, staring back at him and impossibly into his own eyes in order to let him know how it felt to be piercingly inspected. Xehanort noticed my dirty look almost instantly and seemed to be surprised that I had noticed his own so fast. He shook his head and acted as if he had never done the same to me.

_Yeah, see how it feels._

Master Lumina was the first to say something to me, obviously noticing the utter caution in my expression.

His voice called out in an aged tone and revealed the amount of growth he had gained over the years, "Do not be shy, young one. I'm not going to bite." A beam of joy grew from his mouth and then to the rest of his character, and soon even his eyes had glowed with cerulean intensity far more than I had thought possible. It was as if my timid actions served as an artist to delve into his expressions with a chisel, each little movement amusing to his tender heart. I was sure that he wasn't exactly mocking me for fun when by mimicking each unsure, wavering step as he sat, but just becoming a warm point of light onto the chilly depths of the hall. I guess it was to make me feel less out-of-place in this situation. Once he was finished with copying my creeping steps he started to laugh, each breath of enjoyment louder than the last. Finally, he spoke once again.

"I see you are a little younger than I had contemplated; you're about...I'd say...you're around the age of fourteen, right?"

Thankfully, he had guessed pretty close. For a moment there I had been scared to hear if he thought I was actually around ten years old, like all my teachers back in the chalkboard jungle of Twilight Town. They'd always ask, "Aren't you a little young to be attending your freshman year?". Every single time, they wouldn't understand as to why I was angry at them for assuming I was twelve years old. Come on, I wasn't _that_ slow when it came to puberty. Sure, I didn't have muscles or broad shoulders, or even a deep voice like Terra had. Maybe it _was _depressing that I was still at the same height I had been two years ago. But twelve years? They should have guessed I was fourteen like Master Lumina had.

I realized that I had been pondering over my previous experience with age guessing with a scowl on my face for a few minutes now. I really had hoped that Terra and Aqua's master didn't think it was because I had been disgusted with his wrong answer to my amount of years.

Too afraid to wait any longer to answer his interrogative estimation, I finally let out a trembling, cowering answer.

"Fi-fifteen." My conscience instantly slapped me in the face with recognition, aching with embarrassment due to my shaky stutter. But I was feeling so awkward, so nervous, that it was almost impossible for me not to, given the position I was in.

"Well then, you still are a little bit too young. But there's no problem with such a thing as youth. In fact, it will probably lighten up our castle more than if you were older."

_Too young for what? _I asked myself in puzzlement.

"In my opinion," Xehanort began, but was stopped before he could continue since Master Lumina decided to interrupt.

"In _my _opinion, Xehanort, you should just keep that comment of yours to yourself before I decide that you are unfit to even participate in our discussion because of your obvious immaturity."

The old coot drew back as if he had swallowed a ghost chili pepper, unbelieving that his view on the subject had been rejected before it had even been heard by our ears. But he was wise enough to listen to Master Lumina and therefore remained silent, much to the long-awaited relief of the rest of us.

"Ventus, I know it has been hard for you lately. What with all the business of being whisked away by my apprentices to our domain."

He dipped his head sorrowfully, "I apologize to you for this act upon my part. But it was for a very good reason. I have noticed that you possess a heart unlike any other, stronger than probably my own."

His flattery struck me like a bowling ball to my head and caused me to just stare at him in unbelief. What was he saying? That I, some little inconvenient and annoying blond kid, was more tenacious than he? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, and absolutely not. Everyone knew I was a weakling, even Terra and Aqua when they first set their sight on me. That's probably exactly why Terra had protected me from those bullies back at home: because he had felt a certain pity on me, the small, nerdy blond guy. Master Lumina noticed my shock at these unbelievable statements and tried to console me, "Do not bask in bashfulness, Ventus Toshi. All of us here know that my accusation is true."

I stole a glance at each and every other person in the vicinity and watched as, in turn, they all reluctantly nodded. They were probably all thinking what the hell was wrong with the resident of light. And don't feel bad and tell me that they weren't all agreeing just to make me feel better, because I knew for certain that they were. Terra was, I assumed, the most reluctant to tilt his head. He was the most strong one in this whole room and had to lie about it. Well, I would have been unwilling to do it, too, if I were him, so I wasn't unable to feel guilty. But through all this assumption I still couldn't detect an ounce of dishonesty within Master Lumina's irises, which were already so revealing and honesty entwined with flickers of cobalt to top it off.

"Master Lumina, if I may venture farther out to ask, what exactly are you trying to do by telling this kid lies like that?"

Though I did agree with him on the lying part, I still couldn't help but to feel a spasm of distress welling up inside of my head and body. It was pretty sure that it was true, but why did Terra have to ask Master Lumina something like that? Or, at least, ask him something like that when I was _right there_. Obviously, Terra had absolutely no care as to whether or not it had hurt me, and was extremely insensitive to myself. Was this his way of letting me know that I wasn't welcome to such praise to me by the person he worked his rear off for, and didn't receive a compliment like that himself while being his most well-achieved apprentice? My theory was proven, or at least somewhat proven when I observed the fleeting leer of umbrage shot at me from his face. He flicked his attention back to Master Lumina's eyes, but then I was examined again after his head was turned to me again. Inside of his irises I could pick out many layers of negative feelings towards me. At the very top it was annoyance, then spite, then absolute jealousy. Through my eyes I tried to send the message of, "I'm not going to care about what you think of me because I feel pity that you have a chip on your shoulder.", and, "Build a bridge and get over it.". Lucky for me, he seemed to notice the hatred in my gaze and flicked his own downwards in surprise of receiving some despise in return.

"Terra, being my most accomplished student, I would have expected you to be little less blunt."

"I'm sorry," My former "hero" dipped his head in apparent fake apology before continuing, "It's just that I don't really understand as to why you're flattering this dense, undersized rat who can't even defend himself from a bunch of idiots. I mean, if I hadn't of protected him from that guy that attacked him with his friends, Ventus here wouldn't even have been in enough pieces for us to deliver him to you." The last bit of his uncalled for, rude insult must have referred to when he had protected me from Drennin and his gang of cronies. Crucially, I must mention that if I was such a wimp then he didn't have an obligation to rescue me.

I decided that I should defend myself from his assault.

I walked up confidently to the space in between Terra and Aqua and descended to my knees, eventually ending up bowing to the two acclaimed masters of this castle with my head lowered farther than their own pupils.

"If I may interrupt this conversation," I shot a glance at Terra before continuing, "I would like to add that myself, being a 'dense, undersized rat' like your apprentice accuses, did not beg him to act as a bodyguard for me. He did so on his own will. If he would like to insult me, I would ask that he first takes into consideration that I was outnumbered one to about thirty. Therefore, it should be taken into account that anyone under those circumstances would be considered as a dense, undersized rat who cannot shield himself from an onslaught of people."

Sadly, the only part Terra seemed to listen to was when I referred to him as a mere boy. Really, was he _that_ thick?

"True, young man. I also agree that he should have not been so bold as to insist that I, the one he is learning under, was acting stupid. And, he also should not have-"

"But Master Lumina, you cannot deny that your apprentice is correct on his observations of this child. You know, the fact that he is considerably scrawny?" Master Xehanort had piped back into the conversation much to my irritation. I almost replied back to him, saying that he shouldn't be pointing fingers at undersized, minuscule wimpy kids when he himself was creepier than hell and clowns. But I pinched my lips together with a vice consisting of mental concentration and focus. If I mentioned anything about his own faults at this point, all of the people in front of me would have to participate in a dinner made of Ventus Toshi made by Chef Geezernort.

"And your point is?" Terra and Aqua's teacher questioned with his eyebrow raised higher than I had ever seen on a person.

Xehanort lifted his ashen left eyebrow even higher than Master Lumina had, indicating that he had been ashamed to hear such a question from his rival. I almost expected him to answer with, "Bah humbug!", but he didn't. Instead he decided upon, "My point? What about your point? What was the reason for you to even consider bringing this delinquent outsider to our stronghold?"

All he could do was to laugh at this question that Xehanort had asked. Soon the whole room was bursting from its seams with mockery, the rest of us silent as Master Lumina remained making fun of his annoying "friend's" venture with many cackles of delight. Soon he slowed and eventually paused to wipe a tear away from his eye.

"Maybe you should be looking within your own mind for that answer, Xehanort. But since I know for certain that it will not come to you easily, I'll drop a hint."

"And this hint is?" Geezernort had to ask before getting a conclusive declaration.

"Remember when I spoke to you about recruiting another student and that I had found a candidate?"

My previous stalker closed his eyes to see the event unfold within his aged mind and found it, leading him to nod, but then he stopped, realizing what exactly this meant.

"Lumina, you cannot possibly think that the kid is worthy enough to-"

"But I do."

I had become _really _confused at this point. But I guessed I was the only one who had been, since Terra and Aqua also seemed to know what was going on and were both giving their master glances of unbelief. I must have been really stupid or just wasn't getting it. Either way, I had been left out in the cold to wander aimlessly.

"Do you understand what I am asking of you, Ventus?" Master Lumina abruptly sent a question flying towards me. How was I supposed to honestly answer without seeming to be retarded? I pretended that I knew what he was talking about and stood there, trying to fake being amazed at whatever his request was.

"Well, then. What is your answer? Do you wish to learn under myself, or would you like to be left alone. I can make arrangements for my apprentices to bring you back home if you-"

"Master Lumina, I'm sorry, but I have to object to your proposal to Ventus. Why in the universe would you want to teach _him_the ways of the Keyblade?" Terra had interrupted, once again, his own teacher, and I was pretty sure that Master Lumina wasn't enjoying it all that much; he began to widen his eyes in a very scary, frightening way, showing that his underling should definitely have not asked that question. The brunette drew back in somewhat of a cower when his master got up and began to walk towards him with an atmosphere of malice, his arms raised in a defensive position and his head drawn back. At the same time I felt joy that Master Lumina was finally letting him have it, but I also felt very miserable that I was making him have to fight for my own person. That, and I couldn't blame Terra for being suspicious of my own power and thought that he shouldn't be punished for such. Just before Terra was about to be screamed at and after he had been raised by the scruff of his stretchy onyx shirt, I swiftly brought myself up from my respectful, bowing position and raced over to the pair. Master Lumina stared at me in surprise when I tried to break his grip free from his own apprentice, my fingers curling around the width of his wrist like a vine desperately reaching around a tree for an ounce of sunlight.

"Don't!" I commanded Master Lumina with an urgent expression. Truthfully, I felt embarrassed due the feedback I was getting from all the others in the Throne Room. The dog-pee tinted eyes of Xehanort had become the size of dinner plates while Aqua's had shrunk into suspicious slits of blue. Both Terra and his teacher ogled intensely for extremely different reasons: the teenager because he didn't understand _why _I had stopped him from getting beaten up, and the older man because he didn't understand what the hell I was _doing_. To answer both of their perplexities, I managed to reveal my true intentions.

"Let me prove to him my strength alone."

Thankfully, Master Lumina agreed with me that he couldn't argue with my wishes and let his apprentice's dangling feet hit the floor, finally ending up letting him go entirely. Actually, I really wanted to prove to Terra that he was wrong in the first place by myself, since that would hit him harder than if his own teacher's fist could. I longed to let Terra know that, though I may look weak and stupid, I was actually intelligent and on the same level as him. It was somewhat like...you know when I mentioned the thing about squishing my enemies between my fingers whenever I sat atop the clock tower back in Twilight Town? Instead of having to reject their "kind" opinions from afar, I wanted to reject Terra's opinion up close. Hopefully this wouldn't bring him to on day hate me, but it would determine whether or not he had the the right to just say something like that. All in all, I desired to verify to him that I wasn't very accepting of such harsh, uncalled for criticism just because he had a huge stick up his ass and couldn't decide who exactly he wanted to take it out on.

Master Lumina rested his hand on my shoulder and nodded, but I could still pick up a feeling of impatience emanating from his caribbean blue eyes as he spoke to me.

"Very well, then. I will let this smart-mouthed apprentice of mine off of the hook for not just harassing you, but also for interrupting me and judging my own intelligence when his is obviously lesser than my own."

I half expected him to also add something about being extremely lucky to Terra, but it seemed that his irises did the job for him. He glared into Terra's frightened eyes with warning seeping from every seam. Meaning that if the teen decided to do something with such audacity again, it wouldn't turn out to be all that pretty as it had this time.

"Anyways," Master Lumina returned to the subject of his request to me, "Do you object to becoming my student?"

It felt as if a ten-ton boulder had been chucked at my face by the Incredible Hulk when he asked that, my eyes widening as if I was a deer star struck in the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck. My heart pulsated with a tingle of spiritedness, as if I was being pulled up out of the depths of dark, murky water by a buoy made of welcoming, but also expectancy.

_Does he really mean it? I mean, is he really asking me to be his apprentice? _I didn't know whether to be flattered or scared. Flattered, because of the fact that he thought I had been worthy enough. Scared, because I wasn't sure what he'd do if I muttered a "Nah" to him. But, I wasn't really sure whether or not I wanted to. I mean, what did becoming his apprentice exactly mean? That I'd become his slave and maid? Or that he would be my teacher for whatever he taught?

I only managed to let out one single word.

"Uh...."

"I'm not going to force you. But it would be wise if you did become my pupil; the Unversed would enjoy to see a person with a strong heart like yours in a bad mood, especially when you don't know how to protect yourself."

"Aren't the Unversed those weird creatures with the dark blue skin and red eyes?"

The other four pairs of eyes in the room looked at me in perplexity at my amount of knowledge for the billionth time that day.

"How do you know about the Fallen when they haven't even invaded your home world yet?" Aqua let out the question before anyone else could, but I knew that the others had been prepared to ask as well.

"Yes, tell us. I would like to know how the impossible has occurred." Xehanort added.

"Well, um, I mean..."

_Good going, Toshi. Now they are all suspicious of you. _My mind chastised my belligerent mouth with the nickname that all the kids back in Twilight Town called me, including Dirk, whenever a casual conversation rose. Master Lumina somehow noticed that my heartbeat had hastened and asked me yet another question.

"Is there something you're hiding from us?"

I stood there, uncomfortable, as I was scrutinized by his intense gaze. Catching me by surprise, he lifted my chin to look into my eyes with only one finger.

Trying to avoid being screamed at for information, I smiled and announced with regret, "I don't know what you're talking about." Master Lumina raised his chocolate eyebrow at me after hearing this.

Terra yelled at me in fury once my voice had thrummed throughout his ears, "You liar! You're probably a spy for those betraying bastards."

"No! I don't even know anything about them, it's just-"

Aqua interrupted, "Then how come you know what they look like?"

I couldn't object to that question, so I didn't. This probably double coated the signs of "suspicious" over my forehead with super glue, but what else was I supposed to do? I couldn't just tell them about the weird dream I had where I had wielded a giant key and barely defeated some hideous animals while a voice spoke within my head. That just would have given them another thing to make fun of me for besides being a vulnerable coward. Time flew past quicker than I needed it to and they had become even more impatient. Soon, there would be five oversized keys flying towards my head with the intention to kill if I didn't think of something quick.

_I've got it! _The words rang within my head as a sense of victory. It was absolutely perfect: not only would it save me from being massacred by five weirdos, but it would also put the blame on someone else besides me.

"It was Terra who told me about them, when we were resting in the mansion after they captured me. Aqua had already gone upstairs and he started mumbling something about them. I asked after he was done what the Unversed were. All he told me was what I told you; that they were navy skinned and scarlet eyed creatures who fed on negative emotions."

"Terra," Master Lumina turned his sight from me over to his apprentice with anger flaring up inside of him. Terra glanced at me with a mold of unbelief set in his face, then back at his master, then back to me. He realized, sadly at this point instead of a while back when he should have, that I had decided to lie and put the assault of examination on his table. He glanced at Master Lumina and realized that there was some message sent in between them. Then, Terra nodded ever so slightly and acknowledged that he had understood. What he understood, I could only hope to guess.

"What, I never told anything to this phony! Why in hell would I...Oh, I get it, Ventus Toshi. You're trying to hide that you're really one of them and trying to make me look bad to everyone. You really thought that it would work? You scoundrel! I'm going to kill you!"

Suddenly, I was attacked by Terra. He had run up to me with surprising speed and tackled from the right with his broad shoulder, forcing us both to the floor.

"I've got you now..." Terra grinned evilly as he pinned me down by my arms, leaning over my face to reveal the rising anger in his blue eyes. Everyone else just stood there in a silence as quiet as the dead, not saying anything, but watching our fight. Aqua tried to get up to stop us from sparring, but Master Lumina had raised his arm in front of her and mumbled something to her. I couldn't hear what he had told Aqua, probably because Terra had been laughing at my capture the whole time, beating the words passed between the two when it came to noise level.

I struggled and squirmed to try to free myself from his shackle-like, strong hands, but I lost due to his encompassing weight. Soon, all I knew I could do was to scream my opposition to this treatment. I yelled and commanded my heart out, but was left with no breath or strength. The only part of my body that was still able to move were my hands. But what could they do by themselves when my arms had been rendered useless since Terra had decided that that was what he was going to hold down? For a few excruciatingly long moments there I seriously considered that I was actually going to be sent to my death at his hands when the pressure on my arms shifted to my neck. Terra tightened his grip around my throat.

_I can't even get at him with my teeth; his hands are too big for me to crank my head downwards. Oh my God, he's actually going to kill me. I can't, I can't, I...can't... _My thoughts were interrupted when my head was wracked against the floor. He started to choke me even further and it was becoming even harder to breathe.

"Let go..." I begged in a whisper.

"And why should I?"

Though my body had been immobilized from all feeling except for its longing for oxygen, my heart quivered severely with despair. It ached, and ached, and ached even more as I began to black out, my sight on the world around me blotching into splatters of sheer black. The curtain of warm darkness that I had only heard of in stories of near-death experiences folded around my consciousness, and soon everything had disappeared into nothing. In that void, I felt absolutely nothing. Nothing...nothing at all. Was I dead? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that I had just been choked and had fainted. But was it really that I had fainted? Or was I actually separating from my body?

I was carried from that empty feeling into an abyss of fury when I heard Terra through the barriers of solitude.

"Well, that was a waste of time; he didn't even put up a good enough fight."

After ganging up on a kid who was way less stronger than he was, Terra had the audacity to insult me even after I had slipped under the table of consciousness.

_I'll show you good enough._

And with that declaration, I was brought back to the present to see Terra focusing his attention on the face of his master.

That clammy, wet, and freezing sensation eclipsed my left hand once again for the first time in what seemed to be years. Thus, the fact that I recognized what that feeling alluded to assured me that I knew what was coming next. It formed in the same way it had in my slumber when I was on top of the clock tower of Twilight Town, the onyx and snow colored sparks of electricity entwining around my fingers to warn of the coming storm, that being the Keyblade I had received in my dream. What was its cheesy name again?

_Divided Fate._

It flashed in my hand when I had finished summoning it. Once again, the first thing I recognized on my weapon were the five obsidian prongs sticking out at the top in a curved manner, suggesting that it had taken the shape of a wing. A twisted, metallic wing at that, but still shaped like the proud, spreading feathers of an eagle. At the bottom, it gleamed in bright gold, casting a light similar to that of the Sun's onto my knuckles. I held it upwards, the tip pointing at the ceiling, to reveal the dangling keychain that resembled the five teeth of the blade.

"What, you're alive?" Terra twisted around after getting up and had asked in an extremely fake voice, as if he knew that I would return to consciousness. Instead of having all eyes on me, everyone was too busy examining _Divided Fate_. Not that it bothered me that I wasn't being drooled at as usual.

Master Lumina sighed and impacted his forehead with his hand, obviously facepalming.

"I could've saved you from being choked if you would've just told us that you already had your Dream of Awakening."

I was going to protest, but I was too relieved that I had been able to let air flow into my lungs for longer than a second. Secretly, I had also been glad that I had remembered how to summon my Keyblade; if I was attacked again, I could just bust it out and start hacking away. Still laying on the floor, I turned my head over to the group of Keyblade-wielding people who had clumped together, excluding Xehanort, who was still mumbling about in his dreary throne. They all did the trademark, stare at me whenever something weird happens thing as I stared back. Once I had gotten my breathing back to normal I reclaimed balance on my feet and rose, rubbing the back of my head as I let the blood rush back down to my heart. At first I felt dizzy, but then I regained control over my being after stumbling a few times. For the first time in the few minutes I had been awake, I recalled that Terra probably would have continued to close the air tubes in my throat even after I had fainted. So why had he stopped so abruptly after insisting that he was going to literally kill me?

"Well, anyways, we now know that you are definitely not a spy for the Unversed, since you can wield a Keyblade. But let me ask you, when exactly did you have your dream?" The Keyblade Master that resided on the side of light pumped me for information as if he was drawing water from a well, each round of concentration bringing him closer to what he had insisted to seek. But before I could lift my mouth open to answer, my mind persisted me to think once again about exactly why Terra wasn't pinning me to the floor and savagely tearing my heart out.

"But first, I think I owe you an explanation for why I did not stop my apprentice from knocking you unconscious." I agreed wholeheartedly and nodded with my eyebrow raised.

So, he gave me his reasoning for letting Terra almost send me to my death. But frankly, I wasn't buying all the "I am sorry"'s and apologetic lowerings of his head he was throwing at me. He actually expected me to believe that it was all to uncover whether or not I was actually the one he wanted Terra and Aqua to find, and that he wouldn't have given his eldest apprentice approval to choke me out to Planet 9 if I had just confessed about the so-called "Dream of Awakening" that I had witnessed on the night I was kidnapped. He also told me that he knew that if I was pushed to the extremes, I would instinctively summon my Keyblade and show them proof of my innocence. Supposedly, he and Terra had planned this before I had woken up this morning. You know, the whole, "I'll mention something about the Unversed and if he responds suspiciously then we'll secretly make the decision to force him to summon his Keyblade to make sure he isn't lying to us.".

"But how was I supposed to know that? I thought that if I had told you about it, you all would have laughed at me for being crazy."

Master Lumina's sky blue eyes sent me a glimpse of his pure amusement when he sent his intense stare to rest on me. I could feel the unmitigated merriment flowing out of them like the current of a mighty river, almost as overpowering as the excitement of a child on Christmas morning or Halloween evening. What I could gather like fruit from his eyes told me that, apparently, he thought that I worried too much about other's opinions and judgments, which was depressingly true. For some reason I was able to communicate through my gaze to him, and vice-versa. Now I was telling him that I felt embarrassed that I had not admitted the truth of my dream to be let loose by flitting my stare about. Instead of answering me back by our little secret way of speaking to each other, he just sighed out a long breath of held in air. This left the room that had previously chattered to the heavens with noise to gently drift down into an eclipse of awkward, echoing silence.

Finally, Terra had decided to break it in half without any effort, "Sorry about the choking thing."

"It's okay, I guess..." I unwillingly lied to him. But only because I knew that he was told to do so by his master, Master Lumina.

Peculiarly, his left hand sweltered in heat when he laid it where he usually did, giving a stuffy sensation to run from my shoulder down to my hand. Maybe I had been picking up on some humility that pulsed through his veins, or something like that.

_Wait a second...Terra and humility? What am I thinking? Those two things _never _go together._ Still, I was completely certain that it was something close to resignation, something close to saying, "Fine, you won. I lost. I'm going to be mature and admit it: you were right and I was wrong about you.". I lived without thinking for a minute as I practically drooled all over the floor in stun. Was that really the message he was trying to convey? If it was, then I give him kudos for changing from a complete ass into Mr. Humble within about fifteen minutes.

Another pair of eyes were set on me with a sort of....praising, cherishing... No, a sort of affectionate, admiring feeling to them. My heart fell into twitterpation when I caught Aqua letting her eyes drift down on me lovingly, as if praising me for my bravery when I had been sparring against Terra. She was technically dropping a hint that she held me in high regard since I had been so dauntless in the recent past. Every single part of my spirit fluttered upwards in dreaminess, seemingly encouraged to by the clouds of affection being cast off by her beautiful, deep cerulean eyes and warm smile. All I could do to let her know that her attention was recognized and appreciated was extend the line of my mouth the farthest it could.

When she realized that I had been smiling at her for quite a long time, she quickly caught herself and regained her normal, emotionless facial expression, stumbling on the way there by trying to find something to feel an emotion about. But still, I couldn't bring myself to even _stop _grinning even though she had so easily. My ocean tinted eyes closed as I basked in her fleeting engrossment. All of these soft and satiny feelings increased their intensity when she started to giggle in a flirtatious way. She was so hot when she laughed like that...

Hey, stop making fun of me. You all know you have a person like Aqua in your life where everything they do is sexy. Well, maybe not sexy, but you get the point. Um...Attractive, admirable, drawing, beautiful, gorgeous...Well, whatever your crush is like to you is what Aqua is like to me. So don't be pointing fingers and mocking the things I felt inside at the time, because I know that you all have thought someone was hot at one point or another. Don't even begin to deny it.

Don't.

"Now that this nonsense is over," Master Lumina burst in between my and Aqua's minuscule staring contest slash flirting session, much to my resentment. Just by taking my attention away from the matter at hand, he had caused all of those comforting emotions that had given me a reason to enjoy life after almost being strangled to death to float away. Almost like a small fish darting the opposite way when it sees two cream colored towers of bone and skin slowly moving towards it. I squinted my eyes into slits, almost as menacing as the huge Unverse's own had been in my dream after I had separated its hand from its arm.

He continued his sentence, "I would like to hear your answer. Will you become or not become my apprentice on this very day?"

I gave him a glance of utter unbelief before shaking my head to say, "No."

"What!? Why n-Oh, I get it. You don't trust me now that sent Terra after you. I understand perfectly, but I would like you to take into consideration just one thing before I can even believe that you would decline so easily."

"And what advice would that be?"

"No hero ever made it all the way where he is without someone to teach him."

Right then and there the Sun had reached its fingers of warm, yellow light through the ashen clouds that had suddenly covered up the view of the heavens when I had walked into this hall for the first time that day. They traveled forwards through the air and finally, meeting the windows that revealed the outside world, curled their awaited structures over the edge of the wall. After a moment, they completely broke through the rainbow-hued stained glass and shed the anticipated tingling of warmth onto ourselves, wrapping us in a towel of blaring compassion. I imagined myself slowly falling over an edge of a dark, cold cliff towards the sea below. I could almost feel the embrace of wind rushing past and through me as I plummeted towards the clutches of water. My clothes, hair, and eyelashes all fluttered about during my descent and I could hear the somehow familiar flapping of my shirt echoing throughout my ear canals. I had started to near the rolling abyss of teal and was preparing for what I knew was coming next. My imagination stopped at that scene as I realized that I was just rising from a ditch of dreariness and was on the right path for what I wanted to be. By becoming Master Lumina's student, I collected from his previous statement, I could finally turn into what I had wished to become. It was like an ugly caterpillar awakening inside of me, ready to break free from its cocoon to see what form I had ventured into. Or like the dull green bud of a rose just beginning to open to reveal the crimson wash of beauty inside. And I'm not afraid to tell you that was the real point of my story where I had been that complaining, whiny, pessimistic person starting to unfurl into his true character, probably because I had been coaxed out by the three who I soon learned to trust my life and soul with. Terra and Aqua had quickly become my best friends, and Master Lumina turned out to be the kind of father I never had a chance to have. All was well, and everything was almost perfect after I had given Master Lumina my permission to begin training under him.

And, though he _did _send his apprentice after me to strangle the life out of my body and I was sure that I had gone crazy by that point, I couldn't help but feel anticipation at becoming someone who had mattered and made a difference in the world...well, I guess the universe. You're going to call me insane, but, I actually said, "Yes."

And even now after all these years, I can still recall the continuation of that cliff scene inside of my head after I had agreed to become his student under the ways of the Keyblade and his apprentices' fellow classmate: Right before I had hit the water, time seemed to slow and everything stopped. I vaulted off of the glassy surface and headed upwards with the intent of reaching the Sun. Up I went, superhumanly flying across the ocean and to the heavens above, my destination as obvious as when a kid lies about wetting their pants or stealing candy:

The path to becoming a hero and towards my Destiny.


	5. 1:1:5 Secrets Better Left Hidden

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep:Destiny's Recall~Ven's Story, Book 1, Chapter 5~

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANY DISNEY CHARACTERS OR SQUARE ENIX CHARACTERS. THEY BOTH BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES AND THEY HAVE NO REASON WHATSOEVER TO SUE ME.

The Note of Impending Xehanort-Brand Doom:Today I bring you this note to forewarn of the impending Xehanort-Brand doom of Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep:Destiny's Recall. No, lol, I'm actually just using this cybernetic space to thank my loyal reviewers. ShinobiMatt was the first one, and the only one to announce his affection with the title of, "Defenseless Little Blond Kid vs. Creepy Old Man. Next up is the appreciation for the feedback I received from UnVeRsEd. You gave me a really lengthy review and I am very much appreciative for it. You guys are the ones who keep me going. Thanks, I really appreciate your feedback!

The Bringer of Toshi-Brand Geekness,

~Eternal Symphonia~

Unwanted, irritating pain welled up on my dominant arm and inflamed my whole left side after I had been hit by a fire spell, inflicted by Terra, causing me to drop to my knees and grip it with my right hand in tension. We had been practicing the same exact, boring drill all day long because Master Lumina had decided that we were going to dodge an oncoming attack, strike back, then shoot a fire spell at each other for a billion times until perfection had been achieved. But frankly, I was failing to even evade the first part of the sequence up until now, in which I had made it to the third and final part. Of course, though, Terra made it almost impossible to get all the way through just once without getting a blow to the side or somewhere else at the end, which wasn't called for by Master Lumina. I argued on and on that "perfection" of this drill didn't require making sure that I missed the unnecessary, extra attacks added on at the finish line, but all he would do is shrug and repeat his usual excuse, "You must be prepared for anything."

As I sat there to catch my breath and prepare to cast a cure spell upon the site where I had been licked at with flame, I braced myself to hear another rude complaint from my teacher.

And of course, it inevitably came and slapped me in the face.

"Ventus, for the hundredth time! Do _not _Dodge Roll to the left when I have told you countless times that you are supposed to move to the right. I have never before seen an apprentice of mine fail such an easy task as many times as you have."

And that was probably the _absolute_ _last time _that day that I actually didn't hold back with words.

"You know what, Master Lumina? If I'm so stupid and I'm the worst apprentice you've ever had, why don't you try dodging almost a billion blows after you have just landed from another two and weren't expecting them? If I suck at it so much, then why don't you just show me how wonderful _you_ are at it?" I dared him to come down from his "high" spot on the balcony above the training area. Seeing this as a challenge instead of what I wanted him to take as a threat, he leaped off of the pure white overhang above and lazily floated down, his hakama acting almost like umbrellas and puffing out like the tops of cupcakes over paper muffin pan liners.

Oh yeah. That's right, I haven't even explained to you what has happened in the past year of my tale. Well, um...I guess I should start at the next day after where I left off in the last part of my story. You know, twenty-four hours or about there afterwards? That sounds right I guess....

* * *

"Ventus! Hello, Earth to Noob!"

Oxygen pumped into my lungs as I catapulted out of my bed, the sensation of being startled tickling at my ribs and my heartbeat quickening from the sudden amount of noise. Well, I guess even the mew of a small kitten could've woken me up when I had been in the depths of my recent dreams. In the previous week all I had slumbered within were these strange, all too familiar realms where everything was dead silent. For most people, dreams included all of the five senses, but the ones I was having now were only enticing to the ability of my eyes. I couldn't hear, I couldn't taste, I couldn't feel anything, and the only thing that seemed to penetrate my sense of smell was this pungent and flowery perfume stuff that had plugged my nostrils on the very same day I had woken up after losing all of my beloved past to oblivion.

These movies of nighttime all started out with seeing myself drifting down through this weird and black place, feeling numb to the bone. Instead of falling like a normal person, it always had to be that I would have my spiky hair facing whatever was underneath me. It's funny, now that I mention this, but it's kind of like I had been tossed into this abyss almost similar to that of how a javelin or spear is usually thrown, starting out shooting straight forwards, but eventually curving down and then totally hanging with my feet above me. After fluttering downwards, similar to that of a scarlet leaf in crisp Autumn wind, for a while, I would begin to twist and turn, descending towards the sudden amount of ashen clouds below. What this circular object really was, was usually figured out when the soles of my shoes finally met the unyielding surface of the gloomy platform. Then, out of the blue, light would flicker like a spreading flame and doves were created out of this material. Feathers were left behind in a circular pattern as they all flew away, off into the distance, being watched with awe as I would stare and wonder where the snowy white harbingers of peace were headed. Eventually, the birds disappeared without a trace and the fluffy down that they had left behind was gone when I cocked my head downwards to see what exactly I was standing on; the all-too-familiar stained glass mural had returned and was blaring out with, mostly, shades of royal blue, cream, dark yellow, and brown, all outlining the enigmatic figure of the person wearing the tarnished gold suit of armor with _my _Keyblade in hand. And this time the face actually didn't have a covering of helm smothering his identity. It still makes me impatient to remind myself about it, but every time before my eyes could feast upon the pale, sleek face of this man, everything faded out and I woke up in another scene, which was much, much more disturbing than the last. Shivers trickled like rain down my spine like a windowpane being battered by a violent storm as I recalled that episode of resting half-naked (my pants, which were foreign to me at this point in time, were clutching my waist) on a flat, long silver table with my wrists and ankles restrained against what I assumed to be freezing shackles; they were connected to the makeshift bed I was laying upon. The room around me was completely empty except for a few sharp tools strewn about on the crooked silver cart next to my resting place. Now, I know that I said that I didn't feel anything during my whole chain of dreams, but now I do seem to recall that I did sense a stinging thrill of fright that was absolutely fifty times worse than when Drennin and his gang had found me all alone and helpless. Fear of what? I didn't know. It probably was because my dream self didn't even want to start coming up with possibilities, so I just kept my mind in eternal, eclipsing quiet, hoping that whatever was coming next would either hurry up and come or never even approach. As this silent thrum of uncertainty crept through my veins towards my soul, I took the opportunity to examine my surroundings carefully.

My eyes slurped up the dark room around me in apprehensive bites, recognizing that there were absolutely no windows here. Gray walls splashed with foreboding white specks indicated that this place was quite old; there wouldn't have been scatterings of milky layers if it weren't for the paint chipping off due to age. Smells crept into my nose and forced my head to become, suddenly, heavy with some putrid bushel of disgusting wafts. I surmised that, due to this old place, it could have been must.

I got the idea to scan over the floor to see whether or not there were also some signs of the years past. But when I did, I could only inhale the shock of what had been seen. Petals of blood spews struck out of their carnation resemblance as they flocked together in a field that was mostly only on the right side of the cot I was laying in. Obviously I had been waiting in a room that could be taken right out of a horror movie that has to do with creepy, maniacal surgeons and their unsuspecting patients.

Before I could finish inspecting the environment with my celestial navy gaze, the dark purple, star encrusted, onyx door slammed open to reveal the creepily familiar elder who I had seen so many times before, but instead of having the casual, usual, geezer-like grin winding through his face like crimson ribbons of joy through desolate ash, replacing it was an alien look of grief and rare anger. It was equal to unmasking a pool of thick gold within the maze of a mine known only for having plain dirt, just to see him grimace.

Routinely, the old man would pace over next to me and to the back of the constraint to flick some switch on. Then he'd return to my side and kneel, his expression of annoyance transforming into a calm and gentle one once his eyes met mine. I could not tell at all what color they were.

Glints of white reflected onto the ceiling above while he fidgeted with the tools sitting next to me, mumbling once again with a hint of irritated emotion hiding within. That point of time was when my vision introduced the blurring of everything, as if my brain was acting in the part of a messed up easel that a painter had decided to erase parts of. The pale pink, rubber eraser was scored across my sight in one sweep as everything was blotted out.

Blur in...

He turned around with sharp utensils entwined between his white glove encased fingers.

Blur out...

Blur in...

A smirk interlaced with evil formed on the outlines of his face as he wiped the skin laying on top of my heart, sending all inscrutable germs flying.

Blur out...

Blur in...

Bent over and still smiling with a menacing glint in his eye, he lifted the sharp edge of the knife slightly to trace it over my chest to where he was focused on, flakes of blood from previous subjects rubbing off and onto my skin.

I peeled the lids of my eyes away for the last time in that dream to capture a glimpse of some freaky, crystalline thing being torn out of the crevices of my torso. The creepy old man...I had finally been able to manage recognizing what shade his eyes exactly were. Before my glare of surprise was shut, I could only accomplish sending one thought through my head.

_Amber..._

"Heya, are you awake yet? You're going to be late for training today, Newbie."

Terra's irritated, deep calls got louder and louder by the second as I laid face down on the floor. But I was too caught up in grimacing at my own crazy dreams to also notice that I was about to be unpleasantly surprised.

"Hey, where are you?" I watched as he searched my bed, peeking under the covers and pillows. But to no avail , he couldn't find me. Entirely sure that Terra was not getting the point of turning the light on before stumbling into someone's dark bedroom at six in the morning, I fed my inner humor by not saying anything and letting him continue to rummage around. Well, it actually stuffed my mental complaint box when it led to accidentally stepping on my oversized foot. And let me remind you, he was one big, massive,_ beefy_ boy.

I swear I can still hear the cracking of my toe bones like the snap of twigs when he shifted all of his weight onto his right side. Though I can only blush about this now, I screamed like a little girl racing away from a boy teasing her when the torrent of burning, torturing agony streamed up my left calf. Instantly, the pressure on my foot was lifted when Terra drew his own back in stun.

"Well, I guess I found you. Finally." He announced without uttering an apology.

"Found me?" I questioned him through a shortness of breath. "More like killed me."

"Get up and get dressed. You're already late for lessons and Master Lumina is not going to be happy if you make us wait even longer."

"It's my first day. Shouldn't he cut me an excuse, or something?"

"He didn't cut me or Aqua an excuse on our first day."

_Yeah, yeah. I know what's coming next. _I assumed to myself in thought. _You're going to tell me all about how you didn't have any problems at all getting up at six in the morning on your first day of apprenticeship. Oh, and don't forget to add the part about how "strict" Master Lumina was with you when you were two minutes early, and that he'll probably send my ass off to Wonderland if I don't hurry. Then you will tell him once we get there the extreme details of your heroic effort to get me out of bed on time, but couldn't manage to get some sense past my thick head. _

Terra must have recognized the disgusted look on my face as a twitching bit of hate and replied to it with one on his own to match, "Don't think I'm doing you a favor, kiddo."

"Yeah," Chuckling, I got up with the aid of my arms and when I was halfway there, I shot a look of amusement through my blue eyes, but only after I tilted my head just enough to connect glares with his own matching ones.

"You're doing yourself a favor; by pretending to act caring towards my punctualness, you're just giving yourself a reason to slap onto Master Lumina for your own late arrival."

My wrist was clutched a little too tightly as he jerked me upwards to meet me at eye level, fury coursing past the inside of his irises. I hung there with a smirk on my face, trying not to let him know that I was actually scared. Thankfully, all that followed was a sad excuse for...well...an excuse.

"Look here, Rat. As I said before, I don't even have a clue as to why Master Lumina even dared to think of raising a whiny, horrible, filthy scum pool like yourself. But if you're going to stay here and train alongside Aqua and I, you're going to have to learn a little something about respect. I hope you know that that includes not sassing me, the most accomplished of his students. Because believe me, I'm not afraid to 'accidentally'," He paused to add speaker tags with his free hand, "I'm not afraid to make your life hell here."

_He's not _afraid _to make my life a living hell here in Castle Celest? _I almost screamed the question out loud, but caught myself beforehand to avoid my limbs being ruthlessly torn apart. Still, he focused into my own irises with complete threat coursing through his, obviously telling me that he wasn't just kidding around with me. So that humble apology that I had received from him yesterday was just a costume he had put on to make himself look good in front of our Master. I understood it completely, thanks to my background with Dirk and his manipulative "buddy", Yamada, who had reassured him that it was fine with him if Dirk acted like a total ass towards me. Really all it was, was that Dirk, whenever with the dark-haired boy, would put on a mask of negative attitude towards me if I was around just to please Yamada. What Dirk didn't take into account when deciding which friend to stick with was that I never demanded him to act a certain way when with me, unlike his new best friend. But still, I was tossed away and stomped on as if I had never meant crap to him. Fine with me, I'll just be laughing my rear off when Yamada screws him over for someone more stupid that takes more manipulating than he does. You may call me churlish, but that was just the way I was: if someone screwed me over wrongfully, I would wait in anticipation for when it would come back to haunt them. It's what I just...did. I mean, don't you do that too? I guess you could call it human nature to crave revenge upon one who had wronged them and watch their surprise with humor rolling through your muscles, as a way to relieve the pain of being taken advantaged of. Call me cruel, if you want.

Plush white carpet was shoved into my face when Terra had carelessly released his grip on the skin of my arm; I could see the little puffy fuzz sticking up off of the tips. I watched him stroll towards the opened door with malice sinking into my jaws, causing me to grit my teeth in hatred. One day, I would show him that he had no right to think of himself as a "higher" being, when he was no more intelligent or spiritually strong than myself. As I've told you a thousand times before in my story, I hate it to _death _when people insist that they are better than everyone else. Terra was number one on my list of those people, for today, at least; I was secretly wishing that later on he would warm up and turn out to be a bit nicer, really.

_Maybe he just doesn't like noobs,_ I surmised in the depths of my mind while remembering the forums on my computer back at home, shuddering with disgust when I also recalled the many arguments I had gotten in with newbies about the most stupid questions.

My arm still aching from being tightly grasped, I got up and headed towards the closet embedded within the wall. It slid open easily after I had gently pushed on the circular, obsidian lever that marked the edges of the doors. When it had only a sliver of light from the light in my room clawing the great darkness on the floor, I peered in to find the clothes I had come in gone, and new ones replacing them.

Subtly curious as to how these garments looked, I grabbed one of the outfits off of the curved, silver rack with my left fingers curled around the shining black coathanger. I wasn't entirely sure whether or not to be disappointed, confused, or astonished; I took in the appearance of this apparel with my eyebrow raised in puzzlement.

At the bottom of this outfit were baggy and quite...strange pants that took the shape of poofy capris, the top being pure onyx and only covering the pelvic and hip areas on a boxy shape. In the very front, the black piece went downwards farther than the other parts on the sides, holding the _extremely _sagging pockets and long zipper as a result of this addition. Down below every strip of ashen black on the highest piece lay the creamy, gray, and wrinkled portions. Once going on for about two feet, the gray fabric met a circle of gold ringing around the circumference of the calves. A thin strip of even more black lay at the lowest part, forming from baggy lengths of material into a stretchy band that tightened nicely at the very bottom.

There were exactly three layers that summed up to be the whole top portion of the outfit. I took off the top two parts to unveil the bottom, which was probably the most similar to Terra and Aqua's suits.

It hung there on the hanger, showcasing its stretchy black material in the glint of the morning peeking through my silver curtains. The outline was meant to encase the wearer's middle thighs to the crease in his neck, causing me to think of it as uncomfortable. But I guess I had to wear it in order to "fit in" with Terra, Aqua, and Master Lumina's dress code. I was pretty confident that this piece was first up to put on before anything else, so that's what I did; when I was finished figuring out exactly how to dress myself within it, I watched with awe as its saggy fit grew (yes, its seams actually tightened right before my eyes) to adjust to the contour of me, Ventus Toshi.

Reflections of a lanky, half-starved looking blond teenager's misty cobalt orbs coruscated with disappointment at what he was seeing when I had noticed the three mirrors inside of the dark closet. I pulled the other, countless amount of uniforms farther to the side to reveal something more scary to me: the thinness and muscle-lacking arms that the kid had left to dangle at his sides.

_At this rate, no girls will ever even think of me as a possible date. _I admitted in silence, my heart wearing heavy with self insecurity. Sadly, I knew it was true: no female with half of an eye would have gone for me in a million years, the first reason being I wasn't attractive at all, and the second amounting up to my little girl build. While I waded through the thick pool of discontent, I met the next layer of the outfit, which was a few pieces of armor sticking out at my waist. Next up was the gray and white striped vest over the top, that only closed with one white button.

Layer three consisted of a jacket that screamed opposition almost as much as the Throne Room did. Laying on the left was the scheme of dark, black material with white trimmed pockets and totally onyx smothered sleeves. If you could see the right side right now, you would know that it was a faint glowing white with the only piece of obsidian residing on the edges of the sleeve and bottom. Around all of the sides of the coat was a strip of white. Unlike Master Xehanort's long trench coat resembling that of a mad scientist's, mine only went down to the very top boundary of my hips.

After finishing the donning of my apprentice uniform, I glanced around the rest of the closet to look for anything else I had to put on. There laying on the cream floor in a neat row, were the weird black, red, and gold shoes that were the size of Godzilla himself, two black belts, and the armor piece that I assumed was meant to reside on my left arm. The shoes, even though huge, fit my feet perfectly, generating the insulting assumption they (whoever made these clothes) made about the size that was needed. I mean, they _did _match the exact borders of my feet, so they weren't wrong. But the fact that...

Yeah, you're right. My feet are colossal. Don't even start reminding me about how they acted as another part of me the kids back in Twilight Town used to make fun of. They'd always yell as I walked past a horde of them in the streets, "Hey, look! It's Toshi and the continents!". As I pondered whether or not Terra and Aqua had already noticed my big feet by this time, I managed to put the rest of my uniform on without too much trouble. Sure, it was pretty hard trying to figure out how to get the straps on correctly, but I figured it out eventually.

I strode into the Throne Room with my head hung low to find Terra and Aqua already there. They were in a respective bowing position and were speaking to Master Lumina about what we were about to learn in the next few hours. Something about, "No, we cannot go ahead....", "New kid can figure it out on his own time.", and "Fine, we'll go back to the beginning. But, I'm not going to help out the newbie even if you ask.". From what I had heard, I assumed that I had been hearing an argument Master and Terra were having about going back to basics just because I was new and knew nothing. Terra must have lost that fight, and finally gave up, but not without a stinging comment to end it all.

"Look, Terra, I know that you are the most successful apprentice of mine. But by being as such I would expect you to enjoy having someone to look up to you. Ventus just might be that person."

"Not in a million years..." I whispered to myself before clearing my throat to announce my arrival.

All three of them either cranked their necks backwards or upwards to see who had interrupted.

"Ventus, there you are! I was beginning to worry that you had been lost within the corridors of Celest."

"Wouldn't have surprised _me_." Terra added to Master Lumina's greeting.

"Terra, stop-" Aqua started, but was stopped mid-sentence.

"I seem to remember when we were in the main hall you were complaining about having another apprentice around."

"That's only because I was worried he wouldn't feel at home."

"No, it was because you didn't want Master Lumina to only pay attention to him."

"I have never, _ever_, said anything like that in my whole entire life."

"Yeah, but you were thinking it."

"No, I wasn't!"

"Yes you were."

"No!"

"Don't even begin to deny it."

"I would never..." Her voice faded out and off as I focused on something else besides their argument. Residing in the rafters above the area was something shadowy, sitting there in the awkward position of kneeling and crouching at the same time.

The slightest sound of metal screeching against more of the same material tickled its painful fingernails into my earlobes as the figure paused to shuffle their boot encased foot across the boughs of steel that supported the ceiling. For some untraceable reason, I could not find the strength to move as I watched him glare at me with that invisible sight. Every moment that I grimaced with wonder at his presence, he seemed to appear even more feral; his chest began to bounce back and forth as if preparing to laugh, but his entity was entirely quiet. No howls of mocking were cast out across the abyss of darkness surrounding him as this unrealistic behavior continued. I squinted hard in concentration, the skin around my nose wrinkling like newspaper.

"Enjoying the view, Ventus?"

I twisted around to see whoever was questioning me, but I started to ask myself why when I caught the two glowing amber swathes of menacing evil glaring into my own calm, cool, cobalt ones. Just a few seconds ago I had been panicked shitless from being sneaked up on, but I stopped myself from throwing back a sour reply. We both beamed into each other's gaze, undaunted by the colors of fire and ice. While his flaming irises of despise tried to melt my courage into nothing but a puddle of shadeless oblivion, I attempted to beat back his darkness laden embers with my chilling irises of endurance. Though we did not speak through our tongues, we both were pretty sure what the other was saying. And what his eyes were telling me right now was a tale of a cold-hearted old bastard who would do anything, even kill thousands...countless amounts of living, breathing people just to get his own way. I just hoped that he could understand just exactly what mine meant. It wouldn't have surprised me if he didn't seem to get it through his bald, thick skull that I wasn't afraid to bite and fight back if he dared to try anything on me. I know this sounds weird and kind of...well, you know...going a little bit _too _far, but I knew right there and then that we had already become enemies. Just to ask, you know who was the hero and who was the villain, right? And if you stutter and are not sure, I think I am just going to crawl into a hole somewhere in the pits of flaming hell and die. No, I'm just kidding. But you know what I getting at, I assume.

Finally, I gathered enough courage to speak.

"View of what?" I asked to try to confuse him.

Xehanort raised his eyebrow at the sudden turn of my emotions, the gray bushel of fur almost hitting the top of his forehead like those bells are supposed to when you "test your strength" at the fair. I noticed, though, that even as he acted to fit the part of the confused character, he really just managed to fill the spot of "suspicious, undercover cheater and liar". It was so obvious in his eyes; just glancing at them would even make a baby shiver with fear at how much evil you could sort out within them. Speaking of which, Terra, as usual, was in quite a grumpy mood and wasn't too happy with the fact that things weren't going the exact speed he wanted them to.

"Hurry up! Training shouldn't have to wait for you two to glare at each other."

Xehanort and I both stared into a pair of eyes with amusement and vexation gripping our glowers. Probably the only reason why we had agreed for the first time ever at that point was because of our similar frustration with the impatient brunette lingering over our shoulders, pulling, tearing away at us to stop doing to each other what Destiny told us both to do. Or instinct, or fate... whatever you call something that seems to control you and is out of your hands, I guess. Oh yeah, another tip from Toshi the blond nerd today: never, never, _ever _interrupt people when they're busy glaring hate into the other's eyes, telling them that it wouldn't be hard for them to fight back when necessary. But I assume Terra had either never heard of that concept or just didn't care, since I was one of the people in the conflict. Then again, I pretty much knew that he despised Geezernort almost as much as I did.

Wait a second...who _didn't _despise Xehanort?

"That's enough, you three. Xehanort, return to your own apprentice and torture him instead, while I teach my own in peace. Ventus, come over here, before me, kneeling." My master tapped the space in front of him to point where I was supposed to go.

Since we both didn't want to receive a physical or mental beating from Lumina, we parted ways almost instantly, but not before I had wiped all the snot out of my nose and slathered most of it off on Xehanort's back as he, trembling with suddenly apparent age, paced away with a mask of irritableness leaving dark scuffs of comeback scoring across the air. The rest of the boogers that lay on the back of my hand met their fate when I introduced them to the freezing floor, flicking them off onto the area below with a quick snap of my hand.

I glanced back up to see what my endeavors had procured. As the glob of gooey green glared in the morning sunlight, Terra and Aqua began to snicker with amusement. I could feel some sense of achievement thundering through my chest as my body thrummed to the war drums of my heart, seeing that mint jelly the size of a peanut butter container cap concealing the dark cloak underneath. Call me mean, if you want. But before you do, just imagine the face and eyes of who I did it to without laughing even once. Well, without laughing or cringing with fear, at least.

I took one peek back at Baldinort to make sure that my present was apparent. After seeing that it was still being showcased to the world around us, I walked confidently over to the designated spot Master Lumina had pointed at with a cocky edge to my step. Once I met the area I was meant to kneel upon, I did just that and bowed my head as far down as I could, the back of my neck already aching from the suspension job it was _supposed_ to be doing.

Master Lumina pressed his firm hand on the bone of my shoulder and stood. The confidence that had seared through my limbs now had disappeared, leaving nothing but a trace of uncertainty.

"Uplift your head, apprentice Ventus Toshi."

I obliged to his request by awkwardly tilting my face to meet his own. Once our eyes met, he inspected me carefully, each two seconds, or around there, squinting in concentration. He was acting like he was weaving his fingers through the sinewy strands of my inner self, taking apart each filament with caution echoing from the depths of the navy irises he owned. Was this the way he was going to get to know me? I kinda hoped not. You know, because that's not what normal people do? I dunno. Maybe this is how Keyblade wielders meet each other for the first time. Master Xehanort and I introduced ourselves in this fashion, so it could be possible that Master Lumina also went for the creepy, "stare into your eyes and soul until I know who exactly you are." thing.

"Now then, Ventus, before I actually accept you as my student, I have a series of questions for you to answer. During this whole inquiry, I will be observing the depths of your eyes to look for either truth or dishonesty to appear out of them. If I catch you lying too many times, you will be facing the packing of your belongings and the long trip home. Do you understand clearly?"

"I guess...."

At first, I thought about how I could just give him a "normal" answer for all what he asked and hoped that he would take it as the cold, hard truth. But I knew for certain that the honesty seeping out of his eyes was telling me that he could distinguish a fable, whether it be through body language, my eyes, or my supposed "aura". Taking up the position of Keyblade Master must have also meant that he would also be quite skilled at harnessing the personality and emotions of others whose powers were below his own. Meaning me.

Fear crept through my heart like a poisonous spider of malice, just remembering the message he had just sent to me through the blue windows of his soul:

"_Lie to me and face consequences far worse than even imagination can bring you to."_

As if seeking an answer to his warning, Master Lumina transfixed his stare into my own with threat woven into the dark pupils of his eyes. I nodded, accepting and acknowledging my understanding of this recommendation.

"First question..."

I waited for him to bring it forth.

"What is your favorite color?"

_What in hell? _I asked myself with surprise, my eyebrow rising to the back of my neck. Were these questions really just a dumb series of ventures, or were they actually supposed to be serious?

"Um....Green?" I answered warily.

He nodded and asked the following questions:

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"When is your birthday?"

_Should I just say the first day I can actually remember, or what? _

I couldn't come up with anything else, so I just sputtered out, "December twenty-fourth."

"Which do you prefer, the chicken or the egg?"

"The...egg, I-"

"Bacon or steak?"

"Steak."

"Roses or carnations?"

"What do you me-"

"Boxers or briefs?"

"Boxers?"

"Anime or manga?"

"What's the difference? I mean, I watch and read both, but if I had to choose-"

"Brunettes or blonds?"

"Both?"

"Me or Master Xehanort?"

"You."

_That one wasn't too hard..._

"What is your favorite subject in school?"

"Does Astronomy count?"

He nodded and continued.

"Bleach or Death Note?"

"How can I even-those two animes are incomparable. I mean, psycho self proclaimed gods with books that can kill people under the ink of their pens, or weird, orange haired Soul Reapers? You can't really make me decide..."

"Bleach...or Death Note?"

"Fine, Death Note."

"Do you have a crush or affection for any girl at this time?"

That question nestled in the side of my ribs and pummeled into the front of my heart with a strong blow to my head. It was as if a semi truck had blown straight into my left side, each passing moment allowing the forcing pressure to skyrocket. Crimson splashed across my face in scattered blotches as I glanced at Aqua. But the circles of rosy blossoms turned into infernos of embarrassment when I noticed Terra had caught my flickering peer at her beauty.

We locked our eyesight together within a tight constraint of icy competition once realized that we both had a thing for Aqua. At this point in time I could pick out only one statement of his opinion on the matter right now:

"_Go any farther and I'll make sure you'll regret taking away what I had my eyes on first."_

My nervous chuckle sent him back an answer saying that I understood perfectly.

"What type of shampoo do you use?" Master Lumina brought me back into my answering mood.

"It depends."

"What's the longest period of time in your life you haven't taken a bath or a shower?"

"Four days."

"If you could be the king or ruler of anything, what realm or area would you look after and change if necessary?"

I gave him this answer with pleasure drizzling off of my giggle, "Reality."

"Explain the last time you were really angry in full detail, Ventus."

At first, I didn't know where exactly to begin. But by the time I was finished with recalling the past few days, I was pretty sure that I knew what to present as my answer. And, you guessed it: Baron von Dirk of Ditchville.

"The last time I was extremely angry was when my best friend, Dirk, betrayed me in order to please his new acquaintance, Yamada. The few days before his backstabbing adventures, he had started to act funny and would only be kind to me when no one else was around." Cracks appeared in my concrete, serious voice as I continued on, not even recognizing the depressing shade of blue emotion I was laying in front of them, myself. I couldn't even bring me, Ventus Toshi the weak little geekling, to finish my sentence without having to catch my breath to stop myself from crying. It was strange; before I didn't even have a care in the world whether or not I would ever meet Dirk again, but now that I really put thought into I...I actually..really, this will make me sound like a frail and stupid nerd who has too much of a soft heart, but I felt like...

I know, I know, this is going to sound as if I'm retarded...

But-

You know what? I'm going to be mature and admit it to the world right now: the thought of never seeing Dirk again the way he was when I first met him made me want to curl up in a dark corner and sob like a toddler who didn't get what he wanted. Yes, I wanted to cry my soul out until no tears could flow down my cheeks. The stress and tension that had been welling up inside of me the past few days wanted to bail and explode out of my chest, like fireworks made of frustration. Truly, I wished dearly for everything to release its tight grip on me and let me free from the restraints of life. No, I'm not talking about becoming an emo kid and committing suicide. I'm talking about being protected from having to worry about every single little thing that happens, even on the corners of my existence. Life is meant to be hard, though, and even if you're on the brink of being pushed off of a cliff by your supposed lover, or something similar, you still have to remember that it was meant to happen. That will sound cruel and mean and evil, I know, but I learned this fact at a very young age: your Destiny doesn't occur by chance, and neither do the everyday faults of your life. Do any of you recall that old quote, proverb...whatever it was, about how everything happens for a reason? That's what I'm talking about. At this stage of my life (you know, when I was in the Throne Room answering that question about what had made me so angry recently?), I realized that quote was inevitably true; if I hadn't of learned of Dirk's "treachery" and betraying remarks about his thoughts of how I had lost my memories, about how I was so ugly that my parents decided to beat the crap out of my face and accidentally busted the memory tank inside of my mind, then I wouldn't have marched off to the clock tower with fury billowing out of my ears like steam. And if I hadn't of done that, then I wouldn't have gone to Castle Celest because Terra and Aqua wouldn't have found me. And, if I wouldn't have done_ that_, then I wouldn't have had the chance at becoming what I wanted to be.

Yeah, I know, that last paragraph is a lot to take in. Plus, it's probably boring for you all.

"Quite a sad story, young one," Master Lumina admitted, pity encasing his tongue.

"It happens to everyone, though." I answered back.

With a heavy sigh he continued his questionnaire.

"How often do you read?"

"Almost every day."

"What is your favorite time of the day?"

"Evening."

"Fire, Earth, Water, or Wind?"

"Wind."

"Wh-"

Though I knew interrupting Master Lumina was bound to lead to something unpleasant, I still couldn't help but doing so.

"What is the point of this whole questioning thing, again?"

Silence masked a shade of darkness over the Throne Room, even though it was morning; it was if a proud, full moon had been blocked away from shining its light onto the world, smothered completely by the shadow of it's companion, the Sun, in an eclipse. His blue eyes had suddenly transformed into a foreboding splash of ashen gray when I met them. Though I usually had no problem staring into someone else's irises, for some strange reason it was almost impossible for me to continue doing so. I skipped my glare of surprise over to the calming face of Aqua once I turned my head the other way. In truth, I was kind of beginning to feel scared, seeing that blank expression.

"You know why, Ventus? Do you know why I'm sending all of these personal inquiries your way?" He asked, standing up suddenly.

When I didn't answer, Master Lumina took the cue to start admitting his true intentions, "I'm asking all these nonsense questions because I wanted to mask what I had wished to know all this time. If you stuttered at the point I anticipated on, I'd know that you were truly hiding."

Ironically, I started to stutter as I tried to come up with a reply, "W-what? I don't know what you are really t-t-talking...ab-abou-about..."

"See? That's exactly what I mean. Now that I've figured out that you _do _have something to hide from me, I'd like to know exactly what it is. So, elaborate on that, if you would."

I still swear to this day that I had started to hear crickets chirping when the next moment had passed over us.

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... _

Master Lumina, Terra, and Aqua all drooled at me in uncomfortable scrutiny. I chuckled and rubbed the back of my hair, stroking the golden spikes that had been used to define me as the one to make fun of. As my Master cleared his throat in expectancy and settled back down into his throne, I knew that the dark green tendrils of impatience had begun to take root within his heart, and soon he even started to tap each of the fingers in turn upon the arm of the chair.

"Can I just ask you one question, first?"

"Sure."

"What exactly am I hiding again?"

"Do not tell me you don't know?" He asked whoever was in charge of imparting wisdom while shaking his head. "Clearly, Ventus, I am interested in knowing why I can't see any part of your past beyond a year ago. Everything else is completely transparent within your life, but still I cannot get around that strange obstacle within your heart. Meaning, that either you were born when you were fourteen, which is not possible, or you are hiding what happened on that fateful day."

I tensed and released my hands in a nervous manner as I paused to think. _He actually knows about your amnesia, Toshi. Great going, you made him suspicious. Now he'll probably let Terra kill you this time._

"Relax, I won't send my apprentices after you, even if you tell me an obvious lie."

I couldn't reply to that; I couldn't bring myself to answer due to the fact that... Well, I didn't want to believe it anyways, so I'll either let you figure it out yourself or let you carry on reading my story because you already know. I didn't know what I wanted to say next, or with what tone I should say it in. Soon I created an image of going on the defensive side, within the trembling void of my brain.

"You know what? I don't have to answer that."

"Says who?" Master Lumina cackled with delight. He was starting to get on my nerves. Hatred for his apparent knowing of my distraction bubbled green in the bottomless cauldron that most would call my stomach.

"Says me."

Master Lumina blinked his spirited gray eyes, pausing them mid-flutter to rest his chin on the knuckles of his right hand. As this silence continued between everyone in the room, especially Lumina and I, he initiated other sources that led to my belief of the fact that he wasn't impatient anymore, just trying to see how long I would last before my anger grabbed its crimson hold around my being. Crossed legs, a twitch of his foot here and there, a few dramatic, long, drawn out sighs...

_Well,_ I stopped my claim mid-sentence to chuckle. _He'll just have to keep waiting because I don't think that he has the right to ask such a personal question. _And with that thought(which I hoped he had read), the ogling contest had commenced for about the fifth time that day.

He blinked....

I angrily gritted my teeth and gave him a peer that definitely mentioned something about, _There's no way you're going to win this._

Terra started to cough, almost dying to let everyone know that he was enjoying this. Though I could not, depressingly, lay my eyes upon Aqua, I pretty much was able to tell that she was either smiling sweetly at the awkwardness of it all or fidgeting about the awkwardness of it all. Two more excruciatingly lasting minutes draped heavily over our feud of glares. My eyes started to water as I squinted, trying not to shut my lids, for my image to everyone there depended on it.

Finally I spoke, "Do we really have to play games? I'd really rather not kill my eyesight just because-"

"We wouldn't have to if you would just tell me what your heart is concealing."

"But I'm not going to."

"But you are."

"But I'm not."

"You are my apprentice as of last night. Which means, you have to do whatever I tell you. So, cough it _up_." He demanded with warning choking his throat.

"No."

"Really? Are you really going to make me punish you for such disrespe-"

"Yes."

All I received in reply were gasps from Terra and Aqua and widened eyes from Master Lumina. I didn't know why, but I started to back off when I noticed the flaring, resenting storm of irritation seeping out of his cloudy irises. Every expression that had appeared on his face told about the horrifying story that was about to unfold. I almost began to run backwards and away after he had gotten up from the throne, every step synchronizing with my heartbeat.

"Stop," Master Lumina ordered, an edge of amusement slicing through the tone of his voice. This type of sound coming from his mouth after he had just been, practically, yelling at me for not giving him personal information was quite puzzling to me.

_Seriously, the people of this castle really_ _are the weirdest I have ever met: they change their attitude every five seconds. Not to mention Terra, who was acting nice to me at first and now acts as if I'm just lucky to be in his presence. Maybe I should give them mood swing pills for Christmas this year..._

Speaking of mood swings, after I was done pausing a second to think and reflect, I focused my eyesight on the area in front of me to see a fuzzy, mustached blotch turn into a hillbilly, samurai, and Italian facial-haired man . Master Lumina reached for my shoulder in a trudging pace, but I could tell in his face that he was expecting for me to draw back. But I didn't, and when his aged fingers wove over my collarbone he relaxed a little bit. For some strange reason my heartbeat hastened its beating as well, thumping only once in about what seemed an hour.

"Very well, then. I'll let you keep your secrets. But there will come a time when everything will be revealed to me, and to you. And remember, it will be much more painful for you to admit it then than it was for you now."

* * *

All of my senses rushed back to where I was in the previous moment. You know, when I had challenged Master Lumina to come down from his high "throne" in order to show him that my training task wasn't as easy as he deemed it to be, since Terra had decided to throw in an extra swing and a blow here and there.

"Watch and learn," Lumina smoothly nudged with a slice of harsh annoyance on top. Almost at the same time his metal, golden and onyx shoe encased feet met the cold white floor of the training room, his Keyblade was summoned. Oh yeah, that's right. I haven't really explained what it looks like. Well, I might as well start here.

The blade and top part of his weapon was shaped like a normal key should be shaped, boxy and formed in a peculiar, gray way. At the topmost piece rod that held the whole entire thing together it transformed into a rounded, circular silver tip. The handle itself was entirely made of deep crimson, accentuated by the silver, moon colored boxy hand guards and a black keychain attached to the black symbol of his being, which was also the insignia that Terra, Aqua and I had held on our uniforms as a way to announce our allegiance to him. And...that was pretty much it. Very plain in my opinion, but mine wasn't all that much different in terms of unique form either. I think the name that Master Lumina had called it was _Ancient Ties_. I know, I know, it's a really cheesy name, but I made absolutely sure not to let Master Lumina know that I thought the name of the extension of his heart was quite...stupid? It wasn't stupid, but I would call it....crap, what's that word again?

"Are you even paying attention, Ventus? I didn't wade all the way down here to watch you blather in your own world."

"Yes, I am, Master Lumina." I fibbed, not wanting another one of those long, drawn out, chastising conversations that I had had with him the other day. I think it was about how I should respect Master Xehanort and not play tricks on him. Especially when it comes to secretly entering the Throne Room in the middle of the night to plant slow drying super glue on the seat of his chair. Terra, who had warmed up to me in the past year as I had hoped he would, had helped me by watching the hall outside, making sure the coast was clear for tricks to be set on our most "loved" friend. I still remember that when we sneaked back into the centerpiece of the upper apprentice's dorms, Aqua was standing there with her arms crossed, shaking her head at the sight of smirks on our faces and Gorilla Glue within my hand. We tried to come up with an excuse for being out at one in the morning, but before we could even start stuttering she sighed and murmured, "You never let me come along."

Suddenly, the present flashed into my attention. Master Lumina, _Ancient Ties _tightly gripped within his right hand, was practically flashing towards Terra with alarming speed. Each dash of speed was executed in an amount of time as fast as lightning, giving his eldest student a reason to piss his pants. Unsure of what was going to happen next, Terra instantly raised _Eternal Horizons _in a defensive stance, the blade serving as a barrier between him and the oncoming flurry of super-powered Master Lumina.

Their Keyblades locked together tightly, a flicker of light appearing as the sound of eerie screeching catapulted from their clash. As Master Lumina pressed down harder on the metal of his opponent's Keyblade, Terra pushed back with surprising strength, leading the two built men to a draw. The powerful Keyblade Master realized the stupidity of this futile struggle and leaped backwards, flipping twice before floating gracefully to the ground. But as soon as Master Lumina regained focus on attacking, Terra initiated the set of attacks that I could recall how to do within a second. The tall teenager raised his Keyblade high above his head and raced towards his master, but Lumina easily dodged the oncoming attack and left Terra to fly towards the Earth after dealing a harsh blow to his muscular side. Terra crashed to the floor, sliding to about twenty feet away due the force of Master Lumina's blade. Still within a dreamy daze, the boy did not notice the bolt of fire shooting towards him. I almost yelled to him to move, but before I could even pronounce an, "r", the bottoms of his hakama were ablaze with a crimson fury of flame.

By tensing his hand into a flat plain, Master Lumina was able to gesture towards his flaming student and chuckled, "See?"

"Yeah, but I'm not as strong as you and Terra are; it would be easier if I was, but since I'm more on the fast and small side-"

"Then make up for your lack of muscles by adding attention to your speed. Just because you are not the sturdy rock in the quarry doesn't mean you cannot make up for your weak points. Let's look at my example,"

I sighed, knowing that I was in for a long, breathless, unyielding, annoying lecture from the one who was good at procuring as such.

"Now then, see here?" He asked, tracing all the lines cut deep into his face from the ravages of time. Obviously, he was mentioning something about the weakness of his age. Since Terra was much more sturdy and more able to withstand such an opposing front because of his youth, Master Lumina would have had to make up for being so over the hill by focusing on his strength. So, technically, what he was saying, was that I had to replace my weakness when it came to muscles by relying more on the swift legs I had been gifted with. He must have noticed the realization within my eyes and the awareness in my facial expression, and grinned with his, peculiarly, perfectly white teeth. Embarrassment held me in the clutches of its palm as I felt my cheeks redden at my previous, snobby, snappy behavior; I began to rub the back of my blond spikes with my fingertips, as I usually did when I was having issues with the audacity of my unripened mind.

After attempting to stop thinking about how stubborn I had been before Master Lumina's demonstration, I ended up at the new conclusion that I should have probably followed way before that point. Meaning, I should have listened to my inner conscience and shut my mouth. Now, you'd probably say, "That's not the Ven I know!". But let me just say, people change over time. Instead of scowling at my interpretation of what I assumed to have been scathing, I now had learned discipline in the past year of my training. Sadly, though, I didn't take into account at that point that I wasn't _just_ the only one who transformed over age; I knew that that was probably the downfall of my...

A hand was gently and calmly placed on my shoulder, tugging me out of my previous thinking stage consisting of dark thoughts. As if on cue, the brunette, mustached teacher of mine nodded at me and encouragingly mumbled one of those cheesy proverb things.

"Time has a way of revealing the truth, Ventus. I see that you have learned that in the past year. Your youth has proven that you still need guidance, but your growth has proven that your heart will lead you to leadership. You, I am sure, will make a great master someday. A master that many will look up to. A master that has the power of all...the power to control his fate."

I dug my toes into the bottom of my shoes in bewilderment. Every single time Master Lumina muttered something about fate, or destiny, my brain would always fizz out of proportion and I would just have to stand there, collecting myself. It wasn't one of those awkward amnesia moments that I had often, but just...it was kind of like...it was like I couldn't exactly grasp the concept, for some strange reason. Speaking of which, I hadn't even told Master Lumina, Aqua, or even Terra about those two years ago; I hadn't even rumbled on about how it sucked not having any memories before the age of fourteen. Foreign chains of foreboding fear forbid me to even mutter anything about my past; my parents, my friends, my best times, my worst times....etcetera, etcetera. I was beginning to wonder whether or not Porcupine and the beautiful, sapphire haired girl had recognized the tightening of my throat whenever they chatted about the first time they ever did this and that and when and where and why. The pleasure of having memories of such things like that...I always dreamed at night of strange places I had never seen before. Places that have never even occurred within my imagination and thought haunted me every single time I closed my eyes, even when I was wide awake. Though I had formed a strong bond with Terra and Aqua up to the point that I would call us best friends, I still could not attempt to admit my abnormal memory loss and nightmares. Not even Master Lumina, who had made me promise to always tell him the absolute truth. Were these secrets going to stay inside of me forever?

"What's wrong?" Aqua's gentle, feminine voice called me out of the desolate void of recollection. Her starry night blue eyes locked with mine, and I gave her a downcast look. Confused at my upbeat attitude's sudden change, she tilted her head slightly and gazed at me in worry.

"Yeah, you zoned out again, just all of the sudden." Terra added to the comment box.

When I only answered with a shake of my suspended head, they both glanced at each other in alarm.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? I mean, you've been this way a lot lately."

"Yeah," Aqua stopped before continuing. "We're starting to worry."

"God, you guys, you're always acting like you're my parents. Stop fussing over me-" I swiped my hand at their faces to make them back off a bit. In truth, I was starting to feel like a weak, little, pliable toy that any kid with the name of "Good Day" and "Bad Day" could bend and break more easily than they could an emotional thirteen year old girl. All of my joints had started to ache with the stress of everything being thrown at me, including lectures from my teacher, the worrying of my friends, the fact that I wouldn't be training with them after tomorrow if they pass their 'Master Qualifications Exam". Yes, that's right. Today was the very last day that I knew I would be alongside my friends in our study of the Keyblade. If Terra and Aqua made it through that test, I would be left to learn alone. Heaviness accompanied that thought within the far reaches of my chest. How my heart pulsed with distress, just knowing that I would be stuck here in the Land of Departure when they'd be off journeying somewhere, trying to find a place to settle down and gather students, knowing that it'd be one in a million of chances just to catch a glimpse of the whites of their eyes.

The...Land of Departure? Oh yeah, I forgot to explain again. Sorry, I know I do that a lot. As I was saying, the second half of Terra and Aqua's training was meant to be spent in the Land of Departure, the realm of Master Lumina's domain. The Land of Departure was a peaceful world, existing on the border of all light. The outside parts consisted of a vast land that screamed of the word, "paradise"; valleys of lime green, lush grasses spread across the landscape, cutting out room for the many clean streams of water and rivers, scoring lines across the Earth in a beautiful pattern of blue. Every morning, bloody streams drizzled off the land as the Sun rose, cascading into the drifts of golden plains that rolled across the ground, spreading the lights of copper splash onto the pure white walls of Master Lumina's residence, otherwise known as the Castle of Light. Somewhere out there in the abyss of space lay the castle's twin, the Castle of Darkness, marking the house of Master Xehanort. Which was _absolutely _fine by me, since Geezernort the creepy stalker was far, far, _far_, away from me.

Anyways, each room in the castle, including our dorms, the training area, the hall, Master Lumina's quarters, the guest area, and the inevitable room of the three thrones, they were all connected together by huge, golden chains and gardened pathways. A huge bridge was suspended from the front two chains, paving the path to the land beyond. Holding all of this jumble of a castle were five or six chains stabilizing the walls by connecting to the stone mountains surrounding us. Stained glass carved out every window and let in the shining light of the glowing orb in the sky outside the castle, while candles that never flickered out until dawn lit up the halls at night. There was no light pollution there like there was back in Twilight Town and Castle Celest, giving me reason to go out on one of my favorite balconies every night to gather the sight of stars within my eyes.

You know, I think I finally found the reason why I love the stars so much: I am infatuated with the stars because I am gazing into the past when I raise my eyes to that dark void; something I had never been able to do before. Yet again, my memories served as the hub of my fears, love, and life. But I guess that that was my place in the universe, being Ventus Toshi, the boy who had never seen before the age of fourteen.

"You're doing it again...."Terra chastised, with a somewhat playful tone masking his concern for my health.

"Wow," I paused to let a chuckle escape my, truthfully, trembling lips. "You actually noticed."

Terra raised his eyebrow in what I couldn't tell to be either annoyance or sarcastic anger.

"Anyways, we'd better get you two off to the Hall of Thrones for your Master Qualification Exam. I have a special surprise waiting for you." After announcing the next duty on today's schedule, Master Lumina turned towards me and nodded.

"You are coming with us, as well. It'll be good for you to see what the test is like."

The Hall of Thrones sprawled in front of us just as we trotted into the set of golden doors at the other side of the training room. As usual, Master Lumina took up his normal position in front of the sunlit chairs, standing directly next to his claimed throne. But, as I looked onward and behind him, I couldn't help feeling a sickening, repulsing jolt of disgust churn in my stomach as I met the pair of amber irises sitting behind him. At that point I was wondering why Master Lumina had _ever _even gotten a wisp of thought to bring Master Xehanort back to us. Really, who _would_?

But before I could return my attention to Xehanort's disturbing face, I couldn't help but admire, for the millionth time, the sprawling design of the wall behind the thrones.

Set against a background made of robin's egg blue, the lion's pelt colored depiction of rushing waves were apparent as the very bottom of the piece. In the middle and above that part was the blazing gold insignia that represented Master Lumina's seal, and also the shining trinket that lay on the end of his Keyblade's keychain. An arch of yellow looked like a rainbow reaching over the valley of gold held at its peak a crown, a symbol of our master's dominance over the realm of light. Many curled floral designs etched across each side of the mural and left me with a feeling of strange, but true pride. I know, call me a freak. I'd probably agree with you anyways...

"Now we will begin the Master Qualifications Exam," Lumina called to the two accomplished students in front of him, reminding them of how important the next hour would be. A pulsing dread scored claw marks across my heart, making me remember the painful truth about what would happen if they passed. This will sound selfish, but I was really hoping that they wouldn't. Not that I wished ill fortune upon my best friends. It's just that the thought of never seeing them again practically stabbed my chest with impact made of panic.

"This is a test of the heart for those who have been chosen by the Keyblade. Fortunately," He stopped, rolling his eyes secretly as to not let his companion see.

"Master Xehanort has come to see this performance."

Xehanort, behind him, nodded to acknowledge his address.

"Now, we will begin."

Before I even get to the part where I tell you about how crazy the next few moments were, I'm just going to say one little thing:

Wow.

All I could recognize within the next few moments were flashes of pure, white light and pictures of many unknown Keyblade Wielders lined up in rows on a battlefield licked with harsh desert and desolate pillars of dead, plantless rock. Even though I had only been watching the scenes, I could feel the ripple of brave but terrified emotions welling up around the proud lines of armor encrusted warriors. Leading the troops of shining wielders were three different figures also covered in outfits of battle. In their hands were two Keyblades each, which was a very strange sight to see since the day I had found out that only the original masters of Light and Darkness could have such an ability.

_Are the others seeing the same thing? _I questioned myself at the same time I glanced backwards to search. But no....Terra, Aqua, Master Lumina, and Master Xehanort all had only eye sockets. No familiar flashes of blue, gray, and amber had appeared on their faces. In truth, it actually was quite a gruesome sight to see.

_Remember..._

"What?" I asked out loud to the sudden appearance of the deep voice that had come out of nowhere. All of the mouths I was looking at were not moving at all. So, who could have been talking to me?

_It all began with Birth by Sleep, and shall end with Death by Awakening._

_All fate is not slave to chance;_

_Choice rules all._

_Though Sky and Wind will guide the Universe towards Light,_

_Every time, in the end, you fall._

My heart began to thump to the beating cries of my fear, leaving me with only a sense of foreboding curiosity flowing through my veins. What exactly was he alluding to? Birth by Sleep? Did that mean someone gave birth to a child in their sleep, or something? Death by Awakening? Though all these questions rampaged on the outskirts of my inner self, what really bugged me was the very last line.

_Every time, in the end, you fall...._I repeated it over and over again in my head. I desperately searched for answers.

_Wait a second....My name means Wind in Latin...Is that supposed to mean that I will fail at bringing Light about the universe? Does that mean I will die?_

I didn't want to answer those questions.

"Ven, for the third time. Pay attention!"

"Huh?" My bedazzled state brought about confusion for me as the order to concentrate was called. I didn't even know what was going on when I peeled my eyes open to reveal, of course, a flat plain of stained glass. Around the circular pillar that was so familiar to anyone was the usual inky darkness. The mural below was one that I had not expected at all; but who would guess anything about a boy with messy, spiky brown hair and blue eyes back to back with a guy who looked exactly like me?

"Now then, my apprentices. I will give a brief explanation of this mural and how it is different than the ones n your Awakening dreams." Before continuing, Master Lumina made sure to give all of us, including his former fellow student Xehanort, a glance of seriousness.

"Everyone in this world sees this mural depict different things due to who they are in the future. Which, I'll tell you all now, whoever you see on the mural will be who you will grow to be. For some, it's not just a mature picture of yourself now. Some," He gave me a glance as if knowing that I was one of those few. "Some see entirely different beings, or only a wisp of something. But whoever it is, is who you will transform into after the ravages of time have gotten to you."

Hearing Master Lumina's explanation literally tilted my head back with its convincing fingers to let me see the mural once again. This time, I took in more than just a flickering stare.

On the right side was the brunette boy with eyes the same, icy blue shade of my own. He was in a floating, reclining state with his back turned and set against the blond boy who looked like my clone's. His clothes consisted of baggy pants that were mostly black, but with navy blue around the pelvic area lined around the perimeter with white string. More calla lily white string was tied around the widest part of his pants in a circle. Right below and over his pelvic area were mustard yellow straps with silver buckles tightening them together in a comfortable vice. On the sides of his pants lay the giant crimson pockets, with even more navy straps aligned across them in an "x" shape. Another belt of midnight cobalt cinched the pants as loose and baggy as mine to the top part of his outfit. Speaking of which, the whole top part matched pretty the bottom, red pockets and all, except for the silver shoulder guards that hugged his collarbone tightly. A jacket lie unzipped on the outside of this getup, matching the obvious dress code of gold, scarlet, onyx, and navy. Fingerless gloves encased his hands in the same colors as usual, their white "x" straps standing out against the black background and accentuating the three full moon shaped knuckles right above. But the only thing that _really _caught my attention was the silver necklace he was wearing: a crown glowed in the light and revealed to me the same symbol that had been on the wall of the Throne Room in The Land of Departure.

Making up the left centerpiece of this mural was the boy who I had mentioned earlier; you know, the one who looks exactly like I do? He was wearing pants that looked exactly like mine, except for the fact that they were jeans and went all the way down to the top of his shoes. Funny that I mention those, because they were the weirdest pair of giant clown shoes this side of the universe. First of all, they were coal black on the top, dark gray in the middle, and ash gray on the bottom and heels. Ribs of a slightly darker, rainy cloud gray stuck out of the sides of the bottom, too. Blood red straps criss-crossed over the top of his shoes, only one coming from the middle to meet the very front tip of his shoes. His jacket on top covered a plain black undershirt. This piece was most interesting to me because of the checkerboard pattern that was strewn across the sides of his torso and around his shoulders. The pockets were rimmed with black and a red neck cuff hung over the outside. Instead of having a normal zipper like the brunette, he had a ninja shuriken hanging diagonally there, dangling and glinting silver in the light. Shock pierced my chest when I saw mostly black checkerboard wristband that he had held on the same arm as I did, but the only difference was that it was more onyx than white, unlike mine.

I delayed my admiration to take everything in. Black stillness was all that I was able to make out as I closed my eyes to think.

_Wait a minute, _I opened my eyes once again to look at the mural. _His clothes are more familiar than they should be...That's it! He is wearing the same exact outfit that I had worn every day back when I lived in Twilight Town! It's been so long, that I...I can't even remember anything beyond that day when Terra and Aqua had come to find me. _The exclamation within my head had brought about even more thoughts of confusion. Including why that boy had the same exact clothes that I did a year ago.

Not wanting to even start thinking about more than I already had, I let my gaze drift over to the border of the mural, letting my eyesight focus in and out as I failed to do so. Me being Ventus Toshi, I was being too over analytical and pondered every possibility as the moments flew on like seagulls over a vast ocean of uncertainty.

"What do you see, Ven?" Aqua nudged me with a poke of her finger. I squealed like a dying cat and flew around, my eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Probably not something very good, if it makes him scream like that." Terra answered for me, much to my annoyance. But I didn't let them know it.

"Well, um...I see..."

_Should I actually tell them the truth? _I asked myself. They _were _my best friends, and I _had _kept a lot from them, leading to unmeasurable guilt on my part. Now, I decided that I should start being more truthful to them, since they had always been that way with me.

All I received from them were expressions of utter amusement as I explained, "Well, there are actually two people on there. One has brown hair, lighter than yours, Terra, and blue eyes the same color as mine. The other boy looks like a clone of me and is wearing the exact same clothing that I did when I lived back in Twilight Town."

"Uh....okay?" Terra admitted his perplexity with a raised eyebrow. All Aqua did was stare at me with concern glowing in her midnight sky colored eyes.

"Ven, are you sure that you're feeling all right? Master Lumina said that you were only supposed to see yourself in the future. I'm sure that doesn't include two random kids, since you're only one person." She reminded me. My head started to ache with the anger of their unbelief.

_You know what, Ven? _I growled at myself in silence. _You shouldn't have even told them; you already knew that they wouldn't believe and blow you off like you were a hallucinogenic five year old..._

Terra and Aqua must have noticed the frustration billowing out of my eyes and their faces changed from sending a message of doubt to a message of concern.In truth, I felt like asking them why they even wondered what I saw if they were just going to ridicule me for things I couldn't control. But, my inner common sense told me not to; I guessed that it wasn't such a good idea to start feuding with them right before they were going to participate in probably the most important test of their lives. I mean, what kind of _nice _person upsets their best friends five minutes before SAT tests? I may have been steaming like a chicken dumpling at that point, but I wasn't going to ruin their future just because I was having a fit about their confusion. At this point, I realized, I would have given them the same looks if they told me about their weird visions. Fault pooled in the pits of my stomach and I gnashed my teeth together, gritting them in hate of myself. For probably the billionth time that day, I had lashed out at Terra and Aqua like an old coot with an aching back.

I dipped my head in apology, letting my eyes flutter shut in embarrassment as I stuttered, "I-I'm...I'm sorry. It's just that I haven't...I don't want you guys to leave."

"What do you me-oh..." Terra started to ask, but stopped as realization struck him dead in his tracks.

"Ven, don't worry. Remember we promised that we'd come and visit you?" The blue haired girl who previously stood across from me paced over, letting her palm to rest itself on my shoulder. I looked up with red cheeks surrounded with humiliation to find that beautiful pair of eyes that made every single, painful day better. A comforting sort of reassurance reached out of them and I felt my lungs stop pumping air entirely.

"Terra, Aqua, it's time. Gather here in front of me. Ven, you have to go back to the castle and wait for us. I'll allow you the rest of the day off, for I must concentrate on this task." And with that, Master Lumina, with a flick of his right hand, sent me off without even letting me say goodbye. I was going to say to him, "Wasn't I supposed to watch to gain an idea of how the test would be performed?", but I guessed that would be unfair, since Terra and Aqua weren't able to watch anyone when they were early in their training.

With a sort of disappointment hanging over my shoulder, I paced over to the newly opened portal that Master Lumina had summoned. For the first time ever, I didn't even gawk at the swirling cloud of sky blue and silvery white of the void as everything faded from that mysterious place, into the Castle of Light.

* * *

Neither of them passed their tests. But that was just the beginning of all of our troubles.


End file.
